The naked STark
Dance Up Close
Photo: JH Kertis, featuring Chloe Marie, Sean Thomas Boyt, Marisa
Illingworth, Brionna Williams, Melissa Chisena in Visible Structures
Who we are
The Naked Stark is a West Philly-based modern dance company that crafts up-close, immersive dance experiences in the form of full-length works, classes, and workshops. Founded in 2009, our work delves into the intricacies of the human experience, grappling with oppressive structures, patterns, and conflicts. We shape our work to engage, inspire and nurture our imaginations for possibilities of change.
We focus our intergenerational programming locally in the Greater Philadelphia Area. The Naked Stark is a community of artists and arts advocates who strive to be sustainable dance-makers where we live, work, and create.
Since our founding in 2009, we have created intergenerationally inclusive programming, that offers folks of all ages artistic experiences they can grow into instead of out of. Guided by artistic director Katherine Kiefer Stark, The Naked Stark brings together Philadelphia movement artists and musicians to collaborate on live dance projects. Our collaborative process engages artists committed to the investigation of social consciousness through movement and sound.
Our work in 2025 is made possible by funds from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and the Creative Sector Flex Fund - thanks to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts AND donations of money and time from individuals. We are so grateful!
The Naked Stark is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a nonprofit arts service organization.
Our Values and Our process
Center our work in movement, community, and change
Anti-Oppressive Framework
Self-care & Community Care
Continually Evolving Collaborative Structures
Financial Transparency
Learn More HERE
Current collaborators
Happening(s)
Movement practice
with Katherine Kiefer Stark
Spring 2025 Series hosted by Cardell Dance Studio
Tuesdays, March 4 - April 18th, 6:30-7:30Pm
1713 Melon St, Philadelphia, PA
This all-levels class blends contemporary modern techniques and somatic practices for an energetic exploration of movement from the inside out. We’ll explore momentum, spirals, and circles as pathways for propelling us through space and supporting easeful motion. Emphasis is placed on the initiation of the movement and the path our various body parts take in space to discover how our own bodies move with/in our movement.
Come to deepen your practice, maintain and develop technical skills, build strength, and have fun dancing in community!
This class is geared towards adults, teens are welcome. Some experience learning sequences and moving in and out of the floor helpful, but not necessary.
Class Rates
Drop-in Sliding Scale: $10-25 (cash/venmo)
Online payment drop in rate: $25
6-class package (online payment): $125
Creative Movement Workshop
Spring 2025 Series
Sundays April 27 - May 18, 10 AM - 12PM
The Cedar Works
4919 Pentridge St, Philadelphia, PA
We’ll spend 4 Sundays creating a dance! Explore movement through games and learn tools for collaboration in dance-making. We’ll share what we’ve made for family and friends at an informal showing at the end of our last class on May 18.
This is a workshop for all ages, folks with and without disabilities, and any amount of dance experience. Dance teaching artists Katherine Kiefer Stark and Aubrey Donisch invite you to practice play through guided improvisation, movement games, and dance-making. Learn from each other as we build something together!
All-levels for folks of all ages with and without disabilities.
Register here:
To view registration from full screen, go HERE
Class Rates
Drop-in PWYC $5-25 (cash/Venmo)
No one turned away if unable to pay.
We’re thrilled to be exploring Falling Up at Fairmount Water Works
spring and summer event Dates coming soon!
The cover of the Falling Up Zine. A collage The six collaborators in various states of falling up—balloons, a ladder, a wood wall, a checkerboard floor, and a tube man all feature.
The Falling Up zine (mini-DIY magazine) offers a deeper dive into the layers underneath our new performance work, more opportunities to imagine with us, and seeds for where we might take this work next.
Available for purchase now!
About Release-based Movement PRactice
with Katherine Kiefer Stark
Photo: Sean Thomas Boyt, Movement Practice at Mascher Space Cooperative 2017
PRACTICE
Blending Kline Technique, Safety Release Technique, and release technique, my class is an energetic exploration of movement from the inside out. Emphasis is placed on the initiation of the movement and the path the various body parts take in space to discover how one's own body moves with/in the movement. We embrace the space through phrases that move in and out of the floor and carry us in and out of balance. I bring all of these ideas together through material that is infused with what I am researching, passionate about, and is foundational to the aesthetics I love. Class begins quietly and gradually builds in complexity, culminating in a dynamic phrase. Sleeves and knee-pads or long pants are recommended.
PHILOSOPHY AND ROOTS
Movement practice is a space for taking risks, making mistakes, and honing craft. My teaching approaches aim to create a holistic study of release-based techniques that explores movement as culturally informed, politically charged, and aesthetically particular. This philosophy is deeply informed by theories from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Dr. Ann Dils, and Dr. Brenda Dixon Gottschild. My physicality is strongly influenced by the studio practices of BJ Sullivan and Jeremy Nelson.
Among the movement/dance techniques I have studied, release techniques and Safety Release Technique fit best with how I like to move and with my values. These techniques appreciate and make space for the uniqueness of each mover’s body. Movement is learned through understanding the initiation of the movement, the path the various body parts take in space, and in discovering how one’s own body moves with/in the movement. This approach to movement values, develops, and supports self-awareness. My language around movement is continuously evolving as I search for words and imagery that resonate with the folks who are in the room.
In semester long courses, I explore postmodern movement aesthetics in relationship to the principles of Africanist aesthetic - Polycentrism/Polyrhythm, Embracing the Conflict, High-Affect Juxtaposition - and European aesthetic - Monocentrism, Resolving the Conflict, Arch Between Ideas - as outlined by Dr. Brenda Dixon Gottschild, as well the qualities - indirect/direct, heavy/light, quick/sustained, bound/unbound - from Laban. I weave these in more sporadically during weekly drop-in movement practice.
Donate
We do this together!
Excited to donate right now?!
Your Contribution is Tax Deductible!
The Naked Stark is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of The Naked Stark must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Prefer the postal service? Send a donation via Mail. Please make checks payable to Fractured Atlas and write The Naked Stark on the memo line and mail them to:
The Naked Stark
P.O. Box 30794
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Not interested in a tax deduction? Please makes checks payable to The Naked Stark
