Dear Supporters,

 

All of us at the Dancefusion Company and Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center wish you a safe and healthy holiday season. Like so many of you, we have sustained great losses during this difficult time. In March, we closed our studio and discontinued in person classes to protect our dancers, students and faculty. Sadly, we were forced to cancel our beloved June recital and then, following CDC guidelines, we moved other performances to virtual formats. This fall, our student enrollment dropped by 50% and we struggled to make ends meet.

 

But dancers don’t give up in the face of adversity. Our company rallied, and presented Back to Now, a two week series of virtual FringeArts concerts. We stepped Back through 10 years, presenting excerpts of reconstructed works by legendary choreographers Mary Anthony, Pauline Koner, Jose Limon, Daniel Lewis, and Anna Sokolow. The concert also featured stunning new video works by Dancefusion’s Jennifer Yackel and Omar Frederick Pratt. This was a great success, based on our number of views and positive feedback from our audiences. In case you missed our show or would like to see it again we are presenting an Encore Performance of Back To Now. Go to our YouTube link below from December 1st through December 6th between the hours of 12noon and 9:00pm.

 

Encore Performance - YouTube Link at dates and time above: https://youtu.be/PXL2TJEh6g0 

 

On the heels of this success, we are now producing a virtual Holiday Concert to be released in December. Our show will present Dancefusion, fusion2 and students from the Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center in excerpts from past successful holiday performances. We will be sending the link to everyone in the next two weeks.

 

The Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center has been active and busy, providing 35 classes per week over Zoom. Switching from in person dance classes to the virtual format has been no easy feat but parents tell us that, despite the distractions and restrictions at home, our classes are a blessing to our students. Sitting at a desk all day, restricted from so many of the activities they normally enjoy, our classes provide an opportunity to get up and move! Our students are excited about our virtual Holiday Concert, inspiring them to dance!

 

With our very survival on the line, we applied and received Covid-19 relief funds from the Payroll Protection Plan, the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan program and the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance Covid-19 Arts Aid PHL. This funding has provided basic life support for our organization but we are still dangerously close to the financial edge. We are depending on our community of friends and supporters to sustain us through this tough winter, and look forward to a spring and summer when we can perhaps resume our in person programming.

 

Though we are very aware that times are tough for everyone right now, we are reaching out to you for any help you can offer. This year marks the 35th Anniversary of the Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center. Whatever you can contribute, will help us to keep all of Dancefusion’s programs alive for the thousands of children, adults and dancers who have benefited from them and countless others whose lives have been changed through our programs.

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Thank you,

Gwendolyn Bye, Artistic Director

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Dancefusion, a professional modern dance company, fusion2, a pre-professional dance company, a training ground for young dancers, and the Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center, a full service dance school for beginners through professional, together form Dancefusion Inc. a non-profit entity. Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. Thank you.