Just keep dancing!

Special Features Penn Live Arts Recommends Dance

Readers, this week we invite YOU to take a dance class with New York City Ballet Principal Daniel Ulbricht. Really? Really! We recently presented a masterclass with Daniel, and he has generously recorded a ballet class for us to share with our entire Annenberg Center family. Whether you are most comfortable onstage or in the audience, whether you would have stepped into a studio to take a class or not, this is a virtual opportunity to stand up from your screen and move in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

Masterclasses with visiting dance companies and artists are a longstanding tradition at the Annenberg Center. Penn and other university students from around Philadelphia have the opportunity to spend quality time in our dance studio with some of the best of the best several times each season. So, this August, during a time when our mainstage would usually be dark and the dancers would usually be at summer dance festivals or intensives, we seized the chance to adapt this into a virtual format.

We teamed up with two fantastic dancers from our 19/20 season—Ephrat Asherie and Daniel Ulbricht—to present our first pair of virtual Powell-Vandever Dance Masterclasses. Daniel, who led Stars of American Ballet in its Philadelphia debut last October, gave a ballet lesson while Ephrat, whose company made its Philadelphia debut in February, led students through the origins and techniques of house dance. Ephrat also taught an exclusive version of the class as part of the annual #PennArts pre-orientation for incoming Penn freshmen. Over the three classes, 47 university students danced together on Zoom, and we look forward to presenting more virtual dance masterclasses in the fall, but for now, it’s your turn. Get dancing!