ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY PRESENTS
PHILADANCO!’S POWERFUL WINTER RESIDENCY,
THEN & NOW,
A DYNAMIC CELEBRATION OF THE COMPANY’S PAST AND FUTURE,
DECEMBER 5 – 7, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (October 28, 2025) – Ensemble Arts Philly presents PHILADANCO! and their powerful winter residency titled Then & Now at the Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts from December 5 – 7, 2025. For over 55 years, PHILADANCO! has electrified audiences with its distinct blend of virtuosity, urgency, and heart. Then & Now is a sweeping celebration of that legacy, honoring the iconic works that shaped the company's past while boldly embracing the voices transforming its future.
“Led by founder Joan Myers Brown – one of our 2025 Great Stages Gala honorees and recipient of the National Medal of the Arts under President Obama – PHILADANCO! is a cultural treasure and a beacon of excellence in dance,” said Ryan Fleur, president and CEO. “We are proud to have them as one of our renowned Resident Companies, as Ms. Brown’s transformative leadership continues to shape Philadelphia’s arts community and inspire generations of Black artists.”
The program revisits two landmark works that showcase the company’s singular ability to honor legacy while reshaping the future of dance. Donald Byrd’s Everybody (1996), a propulsive, rhythm-driven work from a Tony Award® nominated and Bessie Award–winning choreographer known for redefining contemporary dance. Crafted by Guggenheim Fellow Tommie-Waheed Evans, whose work merges Blackness and raw physicality, WITH(IN)VERSE (2018), offers a searing emotional portrait of vulnerability and spiritual transformation through movement. Audiences can experience the continual growth of PHILADANCO! as a living archive where legacy and reinvention move side by side.
Two new commissions further emphasize the company’s national influence and artistic reach: a PHILADANCO! premiere by world-renowned choreographer Ronald K. Brown, whose signature fusion of West African forms and modern dance once again finds new depth within the PHILADANCO! ensemble; and introducing a world premiere by rising choreographic force Juel D. Lane, whose kinetic style brings a youthful, urgent edge to the stage.
Then & Now is far more than a milestone; it continues the declaration of where Black dance has been, and where, with PHILADANCO! at the helm, it is headed next. Across the nation and around the world, PHILADANCO! is celebrated for its innovation, creativity, and preservation of primarily African American traditions in dance. While many companies interpret culture, PHILADANCO! generates it preserving African American traditions while evolving them in ways no other ensemble can. Its dancers and choreographers have become cultural ambassadors, movement historians, and change-makers whose impact reverberates far beyond any one city. PHILADANCO! is a national treasure whose vision, artistry, and legacy continue to define American dance on the world stage.
Other featured upcoming performances include A Soulful Christmas (December 9, 2025, Marian Anderson Hall inside the Kimmel Center); Blippi: Join the Band Tour (December 10, 2025, Miller Theater); Béla Fleck & the Flecktones: Jingle all the Way (December 12, 2025, Miller Theater); Paula Poundstone (January 17, 2026, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center); Paul Chowdhry: Artificial Indian Tour ‘26 (January 20, 2026, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center); Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martinez (January 22, 2026, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center); Step Afrika!: The Evolution Tour (February 7, 2026, Miller Theater); Kurt Elling: Wildflowers (February 27 – 28, 2026, Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center); and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (February 27 – March 1, 2026, Academy of Music).
Tickets
Tickets can be purchased online at www.ensembleartsphilly.org, by calling 215-893-1999, or in person at the Academy of Music Box Office (240 S. Broad Street) daily from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.ensembleartsphilly.org.
PHILADANCO!: Then & Now
Perelman Theater inside the Kimmel Center
December 5 – 7, 2025
Times Vary
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ABOUT ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY
For more information about ENSEMBLE ARTS PHILLY, visit www.ensembleartsphilly.org.
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