The naked STark
Dance Up Close
Photo: Wide Bye Studios featuring Amalia Colón-Nava, Chloe Marie, Harlee Trautman, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Marcie Mamura, and Meredith Stapleton in falling up
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
upcoming events
Meet the naked stark: Bodies of water
in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival
@ Fairmount Water Works
September 27th 1-3pm
Meet The Naked Stark looks a little different this year!
This Fringe season, TNS shares in interactive exhibit and sneak peak of our 2026 production Bodies Of Water. Dive into an exploration of water, time and space celebrating the sites architecture, and the mosiac of memories in the former Kelly Pool.
Reservations Recommended!
Learn more about Bodies of Water and our residency at Fairmount Water Works HERE
Still image Ben Bloodwell video of co-creators Amalia, Chloe, Harlee, Katherine, Marcie, Meredith rehearsing @ FWW
Free to be
in The Cannonball Festival
September 11th 8pm
September 2oth 6:30pm
September 24th 7pm
@ The Louis Bluver Theater at The Drake
General Admission: $25
Pay What You Can $5-20
Supporter: $50
You are not alone. I am not special. This is Messy. Lets Go.
In a solo dance show presented as a collage of stories through lip syncing, monologue, and conversation Katherine Kiefer Stark lays out her awkward, ongoing process of unlearning and searching for answers.
Tickets Available Now!
Creative Movement Workshop
Fall 2025 Series
Sundays November 2, 9, 16, and 23 10 AM - 12PM
The Cedar Works
4919 Pentridge St, Philadelphia, PA
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!
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.
All-levels for folks of all ages with and without disabilities.
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
