Year: 2025-2026
DanceForce Member: Glenna Yu
Artists: Clyde Fusei Forth; Christy Funsch; Lily Gold; Jeremy Hale; Rashaun Mitchell; Kay Ottinger; Silas Reiner; Zay Thurgood; Raven White
Audience: 90
County: Delaware
Pillow Fort Arts Center presents Open Air | Open Movement, a series of intimate dance and movement workshops, performances, and creative residencies taking place on its outdoor dance platform in July, August, and September 2025. This extended program offers sustained engagement with both local and internationally renowned artists, creating an evolving space for movement practice, experimentation, and performance.
The series will feature artists based throughout Delaware County and surrounding areas as well in New York City and even further abroad, offering beginner-friendly workshops open to all bodies and showings of works-in-progress, new creations developed during artist residencies, or fresh takes on old works.
Open Air | Open Movement is designed to support each artist on their individual path—whether that means developing their teaching practice, sharing work at an early stage, revisiting past work or preparing for a larger premiere. Pillow Fort Arts Center will also provide invited artists with time and space for ongoing creative exploration in a residency and ensure that artists have the resources to work deeply over time.
Unfolding over seven to eight weeks, Open Air | Open Movement allows for recurring participation and deeper community engagement from the local community. The series will celebrate and support local artists such as Rashaun and Silas, Lily Gold, Christy Funsch, Zay Thurgood, and clyde fusei forth by giving them a platform to share their creative practices, while deepening connections with past artists-in-residence, such as Raven White and Kay Ottinger, who previously led improvisational workshops at Pillow Fort. At the same time, the series will broaden the area’s exposure to different forms of dance by inviting Jeremy Hale, who will teach a Zouk workshop, expanding the local dance landscape with fresh influences.
The estimated audience size across all events is 90-100 people, with 5-10 attendees per workshop and 15-20 per showing. The series invites both dedicated dance artists and broader community members to engage with movement in an intimate and welcoming setting.