Also this issue: Designer Threads The PMA and the art of installation. -Robin Rice Bryan Willette -Susan Hagen Forbidden Broadway -Debra Auspitz Beauty and the Beast -Debra Auspitz The Consul -David Shengold Paul Taylor Dance Co. -Debra Auspitz John Simpson and Jesse Sheidlower of the OED -Juliet Fletcher CityDance Ensemble -Janet Anderson

December 5-11, 2002

artsbeat

compiled by Debra Auspitz

For dancer and choreographer Jeanne Ruddy and her eponymous local company, right now there really is no place like home. This week the company celebrates the mid-point in its process of renovating three buildings on Brandywine Street near Broad to create “The Performance Garage.” The buildings’ façades are now completed, renovated to accurately reflect their original look circa the late 1800s. When construction is completed in June 2004, Jeanne Ruddy Dance will have a large studio, a 100-seat performance space, offices, dressing rooms and, most importantly, a permanent home base. A $235,000 grant from the William B. Dietrich Foundation has paved the way for what will ultimately be a $3-million project, and Ruddy is holding a fundraiser/celebration of the completed façade on Sun., Dec. 8. The money raised (the outdoor celebration is free, but a buffet dinner and benefit performance is $75 a ticket) will also help fund the company’s third season, presented in the Wilma Theater in February.

Ruddy, 49, a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Company, was a faculty member at Juilliard for 10 years. Ruddy received a Pew grant in 1998 to bring a New York choreographer to work with Ruddy and three Philly dancers on a new piece. The project evolved into Jeanne Ruddy Dance and has expanded to include eight dancers and Ruddy.

Ruddy says The Performance Garage will not only benefit her company. "My aim is to give a nurturing home for classes for the general dance population as well as open classes for adult beginners, and then also to provide a proper working environment for my company as well as other companies who are in need of space to create new work." Though Ruddy has no details yet, she says the company will share the space with at least one smaller company in residence.

Ruddy is also excited about branching out into the Spring Garden neighborhood. "This area was ripe for placing a cultural center in it. The buildings lend themselves beautifully to dance, because they were horse stables in the late 1800s so there is a peaked roof and no pillars. It immediately spoke to me as a place where I can see dancers flowing through unobstructed -- a nice, open room. I think that whenever a cultural center [opens], be it theater or dance or music, it tends to enliven the area and bring a vitality to the area. Of course, my main interest is to have a place to work and for others to have a place to work, and any dividend is wonderful for the neighborhood."

For information on the fundraiser, call 215-236-9030.