Steps and Stories Showcase (Memory Dance Floor – Steps and Stories)
Join us for the culminating dance showcase of Memory Dance Floor – Steps and Stories, featuring an open dance floor and special guest performers. This event is free to attend and open to all levels of experience. Walk-ins welcome; RSVP is encouraged.
Event Schedule
- 1-1:15pm – Opening (open dance floor)
- 1:15-2:15pm – Bop & Chacha Showcase – including performance by Pretty Tony
- 2:15-2:30pm – Break / Intermission
- 2:30-3:30pm – Street Styles Showcase – including performance by Aaminah
- 3:30-4pm – Closing (open dance floor)
About “Memory Dance Floor”
Memory Dance Floor – Steps and Stories is a community movement space for memories and community storytelling to emerge from the dances and rhythms that reflect the people, artistic culture, and monuments of the West Philly communities past and present.
This series is presented through the Painted Bride’s Voices of 52nd Street: Then & Now project, a community archive and celebration of the historic West Philadelphia corridor, and programmed by Voices of 52nd Street Lead Artist Pamela Hooks & Co-Curator angel shanel edwards.
Dance classes included the “bop,” which has been around since the jazz swing era and thrived in jazz lounges like 52nd Street’s Mr. Silk’s Lounge. There was also contemporary dance instruction in freestyle hip-hop and African influences that are popular in today’s dance hall spaces. All classes also included the sharing of stories on how and where dance created community and joy throughout the 52nd Street corridor and the West Philadelphia Black community at large.
Access Considerations
- High-quality masking and testing beforehand is strongly encouraged. Please stay home if you are feeling ill.
- Parking: Street parking available
- SEPTA: Located near Market-Frankford Line, multiple trolley lines, 31 bus and more: www.septa.org
- Venue is not wheelchair accessible; space is on second floor up one flight of stairs
- Gendered bathrooms available
- Service animals allowed in space
- For additional access questions and requests, please contact info@paintedbride.org
This project was made possible with support from the Paul Robeson West Philadelphia Creative grants program, an initiative of the Paul Robeson House & Museum and The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, directed by the West Philadelphia Arts Council.
