Today on the podcast, our 8-part summer series collaboration with Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s “RE-START Initiative”, continues with Kun-Yang Lin Dancers. In our conversation, we learn how a dance company has fared during the pandemic. Here is my interview with Katie Moore-Derkits, Executive Director and Maggie Zhao, Assistant Artistic Director of Kun-Yang Lin Dancers.

Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (KYL/D) is one of the country’s premier contemporary Asian-American professional dance companies based in Philadelphia. Hailed for its superbly trained dancers and inventive choreography, the internationally-active KYL/D’s ensemble of professional dance artists – trained in the company's unique CHI AWARENESS PRACTICE that is deeply rooted in Asian art forms, contemplative practices and philosophies. Artistic Director Lin's zen-inspired practice of dance manifests in lush works of poetic sensibility that The New York Times says "create and inhabit worlds of their own." Lin draws upon insights from his ongoing research throughout Asia and around the globe, creating a personal movement language that is suffused with strong spiritual underpinnings.

KYL/D has performed around the world, including at the Tanzmesse International Dance Festival (Dusseldorf), Busan International Dance Festival (Korea), Jogia International and AsiaTri festivals (Indonesia), Festival Internacional de Danza in Queretaro (Mexico), Victoria Theatre (Singapore), HsinChu Performing Arts Center (Taiwan).

In the U.S., KYL/D has performed at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, Interlochen Festival, Columbia Festival, Kaatsbaan International Dance, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, Dancing in the Streets Festival, the Painted Bride Art Center, the Annenberg Center, the Kimmel Center, the Forrest Theater, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, and Philadelphia's City Hall.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://kyld.org

Learn more about RestART!

RestART: The Arts are Back!

https://phillyfunguide.com/editorial/restart-the-arts-are-back

Today on the podcast, as part of our 8-part summer series collaboration with Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s “RE-START Initiative”, our conversations continue with EgoPo Classic Theatre as we explore how the organization has fared during the pandemic. Here is my interview with Katrina Foy, Managing Director of EgoPo Classic Theatre.

EgoPo transforms timeless works of literature into innovative and immersive theatrical events.

We re-envision the classic canon by re-introducing diverse works and re-bodying existing canonical works to ensure a wide range of voices, bodies and stories are shared on our stages.

We honor and re-awaken these classic texts through a rigorous practice fusing psychological and physical acting and staging.

We curate season-long journeys that foster an inclusive audience space for shared experiences and human connection across cultures and communities.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://egopo.org

Learn more about RestART!

RestART: The Arts are Back!

https://phillyfunguide.com/editorial/restart-the-arts-are-back

Da Vinci Art Alliance (DVAA) was founded in 1931 by sixteen Italian immigrant artists and collectors at a time when immigrants were barred from major artistic, academic, and scientific institutions. DVAA was a creative refuge where members could show their works, hold meetings, engage in social activities, and offer intellectual and cultural exchanges and events. Together, they chose as their namesake the master of the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci.

DVAA permanently moved to 704 Catharine St. in South Philadelphia in 1966. Since then, the building has housed artist studios and exhibitions annually.

In 2015, DVAA hired its first full-time Executive Director to improve the Artist Membership program. DVAA’s Artist Membership program now offers several annual exhibition opportunities for artists and critically engaged programs monthly. To build community within Philadelphia, DVAA has created a Fellowship program for underserved artists, designed an annual community art and science festival called Da Vinci Fest, and installed a permanent mural on our building.

DVAA is housed in a rowhome in the Bella Vista area of South Philadelphia. In an essay by Ricki Sablove they speak about our neighborhood as a part of Philadelphia “that sparkles with the history of its people--a history rich with the music of opera and organ grinders, redolent with the wonderful aromas of Italian cooking, and alive with the dialects brought from faraway places.” Read more about our vibrant neighborhood here.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://davinciartalliance.org/

Learn more about RestART!

RestART: The Arts are Back!

https://phillyfunguide.com/editorial/restart-the-arts-are-back

Rooted in Arab arts and language, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture offers artistic and educational programming that enriches cross-cultural understanding and celebrates diversity.

“Al-Bustan,” Arabic for “The Garden,” serves youth and adults of all ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds, while supporting the pursuit and affirmation of Arab American cultural identity and playing a constructive civic role within broader American society.

Mohannad Ghawanmeh: Executive Director

Mohannad is a scholar, cineaste, educator, and culturist intimately at large. A teacher of communication and media for twenty-five years, Mohannad’s instruction has centered on the cinema, for which he has also written, produced, acted, consulted, programmed, and curated. He is co-founder of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival produced by Mizna. Mohannad curated the first editions of the Arab American National Museum’s film festival and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Italian Film Festival, as well as the series Melnitz Movies at University of California, Los Angeles. Mohannad is well awarded and published, having earned in 2020 his PhD from UCLA in Cinema and Media Studies. His research of the cinema decidedly examines such intersecting fields as governmentality, migration, nativity, religion, theater, music, literature, industrialization, and modernity typically in the mold of cultural history. Born to Palestinian refugees and an immigrant to the United States, Mohannad has also lived in Egypt, Japan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Mohannad thrives on conjoining education and cultural production, connecting people and places, enriching and inspiring.

To contact Mohannad please email: mg@albustanseeds.org

Learn more about RestART!

RestART: The Arts are Back!

https://phillyfunguide.com/editorial/restart-the-arts-are-back