Dance, Parade, and Sing

Weekend Preview:

Tonight, the ever popular Making Time dance party is celebrating it's 8th anniversary at Pure (http://www.purephilly.com/) from 9 p.m. - 3:30 a.m. Cut Copy, Black Kids, and Mobius Band will be performing live, and there's an open bar from 9-11 p.m. It's $12 at the door. Be prepared to dance well into the night.

This weekend is the Philadelphia Book Festival (libwww.freelibrary.org/bookfestival/), with a packed schedule of author appearances, including Barbara Walters and Bernadette Peters (if you can call them authors). It's kicking off on Saturday with the Story Book Parade at 11:30 a.m., where you'll have the opportunity to see all your favorite childhood characters.

The Walnut Street Theatre (www.walnutstreettheatre.org) is also previewing its production of Les Miserables starting this weekend through next week. The production will continue through August 3rd, so there will be plenty of opportunities to catch this classic musical about hard times and lovers torn apart in France.

Black is the New Black

Philadanco's program this weekend, entitled "In the Black Tradition," showcased the versatile company's range on the stage of the Perelman Theater. The Philadelphia-based company is known for their athleticism, and particularly their two world premieres reinforced their reputation.

I enjoyed watching the first two pieces in Philadanco's program, but I wasn't floored (I think my standards have gone up after Alvin Ailey). I was starting to wonder if the company I had heard raved about so often could be a bit overrated. "Ritornello," choreographed to the music of Johann Sebastion Bach was technically on point but seemed too traditinal for the company's style. "Such Sweet Morning," choreographed to Duke Ellington's song of that title, illustrated the company's musicality, because the jazziness of the piece made for a very irregular beat.

The whole tone of the performance changed, however, in the second act - from technical prowess to exuberant fun. "From Dawn 'til Dusk" was a world premiere about women's empowerment. The all-female set of dancers seemed almost moved by an exterior force as they flung themselves about the stage powerfully in their burnt umber dresses. As they raised themselves off the floor again and again with the effortlessness only dancers can pull off the audience began mumuring and finally crying out their approval. The final piece, "Commitments" was also a world premiere, and it was very erotic. The stage opened with a set of male dangers in long skirts performing almost ritualistic dance, and then a set of women in showgirl-like outfits and feathers emerged to irreverently seduce them. One dancer actually threw herself across the stage, landing atop a male dancer's shoulders and wrapping her legs around his neck. The dancers were having so much fun in this piece, and it really showed. Philadanco did live up to their reputation after all.

Yo Mamma

This Sunday is Mother's Day, and there's no better repayment for nine hours of labor than the knowledge that her progeny believes in the power of strong women. Fortunately for Philadelphians, two such strong women will be gracing us with their presence.

Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30, PBS's Washington Week (www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek) visits the University of Pennsylvania. Washington Week's host Gwen Ifill was a trailblazor in the journalism industry for not just women, but African Americans, as well. At this point she's a legend. The show will be filmed live and the panel, with representatives from POLITICO, TIME Magazine, and NBC News, will be discussing the presidential primary. Although even I, a self-diagnosed political junky, am growing weary of the election coverage, Ifill could make anything fresh.

Another strong woman making her presence known this week is Joan Myers Brown, Artistic Director of Philadanco (http://www.philadanco.org/), the Philadelphia-based dance company known for their athleticism and edginess. Brown has revolutionized the dance world from the many arts positions she has held. Tonight through Sunday Philadanco will be performing at the Kimmel Center (http://www.kimmelcenter.org/), and there will be two world premiers on the program.