Dance artist and choreographer Lila Kushner to premiere “Between Certainties” June 13, 14 and 17 in Philadelphia and Brooklyn

PRESS RELEASE

Award-winning Philadelphia-based contemporary dance artist, choreographer and teacher Lila Kushner has announced the premiere of her latest composition, “Between Certainties” in Philadelphia and Brooklyn in June 2025. The first two performances will take place on Friday and Saturday, June 13 and 14, at 8 p.m. at Philadelphia Dance Theatre (PDT), located at the New Covenant Campus on the border between the city’s Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods (7500 Germantown Ave.). The final show on Tuesday, June 17, will be performed in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood at Triskelion Arts, a space “dedicated to the growth and celebration of dance in NYC” (106 Calyer St.).

Currently a teaching artist with Pilobolus and a recent winner of Regional Dance America’s 2024 National Choreography Award, Kushner will bring together nine exciting, young professional dancers from around the country for the premiere.

“Between Certainties” is a 50-minute contemporary dance work “exploring our relationships to external powers and forces,” said Kushner. “While some of us look outwards for guidance, others turn to relationships nearby. This work aims to analyze the balance between these approaches. ”Kushner was inspired by what she calls “the natural choreography” and imagery of religious and spiritual practices such as bowing or kneeling and surrendering the heart upwards. Her early stages of exploration for the piece included “examining what inspires awe within us and picking out language and images from personal experiences that resonate with us,” such as the Quaker idea of “holding each other in the light” or the common practice of holding hands when praying before a meal.

“Between Certainties” is Kushner’s second full-length work and she is determined to challenge herself to be intentional with choreographic choices.

“Dance that is only about form and physical aesthetic no longer fully satisfies me,” she said. “Though I love the patterns and geometry of dance making, I want to challenge myself to invest in the storytelling and meaning of the movement.”

Some of the dancers joining Kushner for this performance collaborated with her in her debut show, “This Time Tomorrow (I’ll Be Seeing You),” which electrified audiences last July. This year, Kushner is excited to welcome new Philadelphia-based dance artists into the group, expanding her growing network of dancers and friends who she hopes will be life-long collaborators.

A Philadelphia native and graduate of Germantown Friends School, Kushner received her dance training at PDT before earning her BFA in Dance with a Composition Emphasis at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. During her time at the Conservatory, Kushner performed works by notable artists including T. Lang, Victor Quijada, Brian Brooks, Bradley Shelver and Aszure Barton. In Boston, Kushner danced with Hybrid Motion Dance Theatre. This March, she made her debut performance with New York’s Adams Company Dance under the direction of Mitzi Adams.

Kushner has choreographed work for the Boston Conservatory Summer Intensive, PDT, Greenwich Academy and Solstice Dance Academy. Her work “Parola” won the 2023 Regional Dance America Northeast Emerging Choreography Award, for which she received a full scholarship to the 2023 National Choreography Intensive (NCI) in Dayton, Ohio, where she was inspired by NCI’s director of choreography, award-winning Chicago-based dance artist Stephanie Martinez. Kushner earned the 2024 National Choreography Award for “If, By Chance,” an eight-minute piece featuring 19 dancers.

Kushner’s next mission: expanding her practice to become what she calls “a more multicultural and global artist and dance maker.” Starting this September, she will be pursuing that goal at the Choreography and Performance master of research program at the University of Roehampton in London.

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More info: lila-kushner.com

Media contact: Hillel Hoffmann, hillel.hoffmann@gmail.com, 267-896-1301