{"id":619790,"date":"2026-02-27T11:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/619790\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:30:17","slug":"philadelphia-dance-groups-strengthen-immigrant-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/619790\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia dance groups strengthen immigrant communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weaving together a tapestry of heritage, history<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda Espinal, Penyami Storms and Chrakravotry all use dance to show the many different traditions within their countries of origin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my class, we talk about \u2026 why [do] we do this dance a certain way?\u201d Penyami Storms said. \u201cWhy do we wear certain costumes? What is the story behind the dance? So we don\u2019t just come and dance, but we talk about the Indonesian values, Indonesian philosophies, and I think they really appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that cultural education, she said, is emphasizing that Indonesia is not a monolith.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have over 300 ethnic groups, [each] with its own traditions and culture,\u201d Penyami Storms said.<\/p>\n

\"aPerformers with \u00d1uuxakun perform Mexican folkloric dance at a celebration for a D\u00eda de los Muertos celebration on 9th Street in South Philadelphia on Nov. 1, 2025. (Karina Aime Montes; Courtesy: \u00d1uuxakun)<\/p>\n

Penyami Storms said she teaches the traditions she\u2019s been trained in, from Sulawesi, the island where she was born, and the Balinese dance tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to pretend that I know everything about Indonesia, either,\u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what I\u2019m passing down to the students and the values \u2026 Like, how we should be in the community? How do we talk to each other with respect?\u201d<\/p>\n

That inclusivity extends to gender identity as well, she said. Some ethnic groups in Indonesia recognize five genders, and in traditional dances, everyone has to learn the dances for both male and female dancers.<\/p>\n

For Courtyard Dancers, Chakravorty ensures both the Islamic and Hindu elements of Kathak dance are recognized and celebrated, and her students represent a range of South Asian countries and ethnicities.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Kathak dance] has elements that will allow people to talk about things that might be uncomfortable at their own homes,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause if it\u2019s majority Hindu population in the U.S., and even in the Courtyard, we are doing something that has deep Islamic roots. So, that\u2019s going to just be part of what we dance. And these conversations are not going to be just limited in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda Espinal said she also seeks to explain traditional clothing, dances and stories from different Indigenous communities throughout Mexico. It\u2019s important knowledge that not all of the parents have the time or resources to pass on on their own, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began to realize that it\u2019s not just dance, it\u2019s also language, it\u2019s family ties, it\u2019s the values that we have as Mexicans and as Latinos in general,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A $50,000 grant from Mid Atlantic Arts that the group received for this year is a \u201cdream come true,\u201d Garc\u00eda Espinal said. She hopes to use the funds to pay for practice space and expand classes in the coming year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little complicated because of all of the situations that we have to manage, but we\u2019re working hard on that and that gives me a lot of joy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Interviews with Andrea Garc\u00eda Espinal, Magal\u00ed Cruz, and Noemi Cort\u00e9s were conducted in Spanish and translated for this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Weaving together a tapestry of heritage, history Garc\u00eda Espinal, Penyami Storms and Chrakravotry all use dance to show…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":619791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,40646,41480,10929,33434,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-619790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-ballet","tag-creativity-sparks-success","tag-dance","tag-immigrant-community","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116142370222470631","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}