Dance Classes and Lessons at Susan Hess Modern Dance 508 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19106

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Overview

Dance Classes and Lessons are available at Susan Hess Modern Dance, located on 508 Spruce Street in Philadelphia, PA 19106.

website: http://hessdance.org/

e-mail: send an e-mail

Description

When Artistic Director Susan Hess founded Susan Hess Modern Dance in Philadelphia in 1980, she was responding to the great needs for local artists to have the resources of space and time in which to develop their craft and a safe, supportive atmosphere for their growth. She acquired former assembly-plant and storage space on the top floor at 2030 Sansom Street near Rittenhouse Square, which her husband, architectural woodworking specialist Richard Herskovitz, redesigned as a dance studio in which Hess taught young dancers in the city. In 1984, after incorporation as a nonprofit, SHMD launched the Choreographers Project residency program for independent local artists – and a new chapter began in Philadelphia dance history.

Darla Stanley, 2004

Darla Stanley, 2004
2009 Tribute to Daniel Nagrin

2009 Tribute to Daniel Nagrin

Over the next 25 years, the Hess Studio built upon mid-20th-century modern dance traditions while encouraging explorations in all areas of contemporary dance, on a mission to enhance the vibrancy of the art form and to expand local audience appreciation for it. In 1984-85, Hess presented at the studio SHMD’s first living-history lecture-and film series, Five Evenings with American Dance Pioneers, funded with assistance from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The series enabled Philadelphia audiences to share in the unique recollections of choreographic legends Anna Sokolow (1910-2000), Martha Hill (1900-1995), Pearl Primus (1919-1994), May O’Donnell (1906- 2004), and Daniel Nagrin (1917-2008).

The precedent set by the series led to renowned artists such as Lucas Hoving, Deborah Hay, and members of the Trisha Brown Dance Company conducting workshops at the studio. The Choreographers Project also continued to expand, providing three to four local artists per year with free studio space, funded performance opportunities, and administrative support. Hess remembers local choreographer Leah Stein, during her residency in the late 1990s, changing the potential for interaction with audiences by daring to move the seats around in the middle of performance. This challenge to the public’s expectations of dance continues in the works SHMD presents today. SHMD’s 20th-anniversary living-history lecture-film series in 2000, Six American Pioneers: A Look Back, a Leap Forward, brought to the Painted Bride Arts Center leading choreographers and modern dancers Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Carmen LaVallade, Donald McKayle, Ernestine Stodelle, and Annabelle Gamson. Out of this series of shared experiences emerged SHMD’s Masters Exchange program, which brings distinguished mentors in dance and the performing arts to dialogue with the local choreographers on the creative process, view the residents’ works in progress, and discuss the options for career development in dance. The work sessions often serve as launch pads for future creative explorations, and some residents have gone on to work with master teachers for extended periods.

SHMD presents local and national dancers, musicians, monologuists, and other performing artists through its collaborative In Performance series of showings. The popular programs also serve, at least twice a year, as the laboratories in which the resident artists can explore and evaluate their work in an intimate setting with their audiences. Susan Hess has also collaborated with local organizations to showcase the works of significant national and international artists. In 2005, SHMD and the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival brought London choreographer Siobhan Davies’s company to The Rotunda for the U.S. premiere of Bird Song, which was followed in 2006 by a collaboration with The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Dance Advance, Bryn Mawr College, Drexel University, and the Painted Bride Arts Center to present the Philadelphia premiere of Siobhan Davies Dance in White Man Sleeps.

In all the organization’s programming, Susan Hess provides direction and gentle guidance to the artists and the vision to venture into territory appropriate to the present artistic climate. The ultimate testimony to SHMD’s efforts lies in the works that have emerged from its programs and in the artistic careers they have enhanced.