Presented by Philadelphia Dance Projects January 24 and January 25
Philadelphia Dance Projects continues its DANCE UP CLOSE 2023 season with the world premiere of Glimpse, a new body of work by choreographer Lauren Putty White in collaboration with her husband and creative counterpart, jazz musician/composer Brent White. Performances are on Friday, January 24 and Saturday, January 25 at 7:00 PM at Christ Church Neighborhood House (20 North American Street). Tickets at $20 each are available at www.philadanceprojects.org.
In Glimpse, Lauren Putty White uses her mastery of improvisatory dance to live jazz music to share her take on living phases of life through the lens of the camera phone. Brent White composes and arranges a musical score featuring ten original compositions within a central theme. Becoming a mother has given White a new perspective on why people record life and relive it. Glimpse reminds us that, while pictures can capture memories in stillness, the act of remembrance keeps them in motion. Integrating familial images with original live music and the dance experience, White takes the audience on a kinetic journey of endearment and hope.
Putty White is joined by seasoned dance artists Joe Gonzalez, a current company member in Complexions Contemporary Ballet Company, Sarah Warren, member of Artist House/Asya Zlatina + Dancers, and newcomer CeCe Mitchell, a recent graduate of Stockton University. The work is a suite for solos, duets, and the full ensemble. White on trombone will be joined by a 4- piece band with guitar, bass, drums and percussion. With each musician improvising freely to the original tunes, the dancers will collaborate with a mix of choreography and improvised play, becoming added voices in the band
Lauren Putty White, a faculty member in Dance at Stockton University, has honed a unique jazz dance vocabulary ranging from influences of Sun Ra Arkestra to Philadanco. She has performed internationally with the world-renowned Parsons Dance Company and Philadanco, and has choreographed for BalletX, Grace Dance Theatre, Bryn Mawr College, and Drexel University.
Brent White, an Assistant Teaching Professor in Music at Drexel University, and Francis Johnson Innovation Fellow, uses his scholarly research and performing experiences from touring internationally with various artists to inspire his creative practice. His melodic soundscape embodies the mood and movement with keen intuition.
The couple founded Putty Dance Project to produce socially conscious works. Together they have presented at the Kimmel Center, the K Dance Yes Invitational, American Dane Guild Festival, Baltimore Dance Invitational, and virtually in Boston Contemporary Dance Festival and San Francisco’s Virtual Pathways.
Lauren Putty White will moderate a Q&A with members of the audience and cast immediately following each performance.
This performance is the first of three premieres by Philadelphia dance and movement artists featured in DANCE UP CLOSE 2023. The new works all align around a theme of the embodied Legacy of time, memory and history. The premieres are supported by as grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The mission of Philadelphia Dance Projects is to support contemporary dance through Projects that encourage artists and audiences to more fully participate and engage in the experience and pursuit of dance as an evolving form.   www.philadanceprojects.org
