The Sonder Space is a new visual and performing arts project providing a platform for emerging and accomplished artists to present their work with maximum creative freedom. The aim of this project is to organize and produce a dance performance that will highlight the creative talents of the dancers involved while investigating themes that are central to the human experience. When searching for a name for this project, we stumbled upon the word “sonder”, which means, “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” With that in mind, a priority in putting on this performance is to collaborate in such a way as to encourage an open exploration of who we are, both as individuals and in the collective, and what makes us unique.
We are particularly excited to have secured Theatre Exile in South Philadelphia as the venue for our performances, to take place on May 31st and June 1 st . On the corner of 13th and Reed, the theater is nestled in a wonderful community that we hope to enrich with our art. Dance performance does not often make its way into the South Philly communities, and we are excited at the prospect of tapping into an untouched audience. We have already begun rehearsals and are projecting a cast of 6 dancers, with the hopes of adding a musician.
That being said, another priority in producing this show is to support every artist involved. Many dancers work on a gig to gig basis, and we would like to provide them with not only a space to produce art, but to be well compensated for their contribution. We aim to provide appropriate payment to the artists commensurate to the cultivation of their craft.