Headlong Dance Theater
Philadelphia, PA
Headlong Dance Theater was founded in Philadelphia in 1993. Headlong has created over forty dances, and toured nationally and internationally. ather than relying on a single dance style or technique, Headlong develops a unique movement vocabulary for each new piece. The co-directors’ eclectic movement backgrounds include modern, ballet, jazz, tap, contact improvisation, releasing techniques, theater, sports, sign language, Bharata Natyam, and Ghanaian dance. Drawing on these sources, as well as the potential movements of audience participants and the wonderfully idiosyncratic movements of non-professional performers, the group creates movement vocabularies that both reflect and comment on the subject matter they are exploring.
Hotel Pool
Headlong Dance Theater
MoreAndrew Simonet was a founding co-director of Headlong.
Artist BioAmy Smith is a Creative Capital workshop consultant and Co-Director of Headlong Dance Theater
Artist BioDavid Brick
Artist BioCollaboratively helmed by David Brick, Andrew Simonet and Amy Smith, the Headlong Dance Theater troupe transforms the sanitized space of the building’s spa into an intimate, visceral performance experience. In Hotel Pool, a business woman stumbles into the humid glow of a pool after a long day of travel. The air is thick, the water glows strangely and the woman falls into the arms of a watery, slow-motion eruption. Located near New York’s Wall Street district, the beckoning waters of the pool become the site for a meditation on the fine line between waking up and dying. Hotel Pool was a runaway hit at its Philadelphia Live Arts Festival premiere in 2004. It is set to an original score by the Wayward Wind, who are known for their lush musical arrangements and pop sensibility.
Amy Smith
Woodstown, NJ
Amy Smith Smith is a Creative Capital workshop consultant and Co-Director of Headlong Dance Theater, a Bessie-award winning Philadelphia-based dance theater company. Headlong’s work has toured nationally and internationally, and ranges from works for the stage to works that take place in hotel pools (their Creative Capital-supported project Hotel Pool), urban neighborhoods (CELL), and people’s homes (This Town is a Mystery). Before founding Headlong with her collaborators, she attended Wesleyan University and the Center for New Dance Development in Holland. Besides Headlong, Smith has performed in the work of Deborah Hay and Ishmael Houston Jones, and she has worked as an actor and director in Philadelphia theater. She served on the Dance/USA Board of Trustees, and spent several years working to create Dance/USA Philadelphia. She helps artists and organizations with their tax preparation and financial management issues. Her personal mission is to help other artists improve their financial literacy.
David Brick
Philadelphia, PA
David Brick is a founding co-director of Headlong. Before starting Headlong, he danced with the Richard Bull Dance Theater. He co-created Love Unpunished with Dan Rothenberg for Pig Iron Theatre Company. Brick is the Dean of the Headlong Performance Institute.