WHAT IS nEW?
Dance-Driven. Artist-Fueled.

The January nEW festival invigorates audiences in the presentation of original works of dance theatre from the Philadelphia Dance community. As a follow up to the successful 2005 debut of the nEW Festival and the 2006 “project development” phase, curator Melanie Stewart presents the 2007 nEW Festival. Featured full-scale production participants include Cie Herve-Gil, Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre, Tania Issac and PLUCK.

In keeping with the nEW continuum, there also will be a DanceHouse Program featuring work shown in its initial stages, which will then be developed over the year and shown in completion in 2008. The DanceHouse program will feature: Megan Mazarick, Meghan Durham/Merge Dance, and the newly reformed SCRAP Performance Group, including Silvana Cardell, Myra Bazell, Kate Watson-Wallace, Madison Cario, and Joe'l Ludovich.

nEW has been established to craft and present dance theater works over the course of a year, from their inception, throughout their feedback and progress, and at their final completion. Through this evolution, the festival will include complete works developed in 2006, while works in progress presented this year will be seen in full-scale production at the 2008 nEW Festival. The artist-driven, dance-fueled festival continues to include an emphasis on the “new” and emerging in dance theater, for which Philadelphia has become renowned.

nEW is made possible by the generous support of the William Penn Foundation, The University of the Arts, The Independence Foundation, The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Fund, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Weekly, and Samuel S. Fels Fund, Carole Haas Gravano, The Friends of Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre and Rowan University.