Performa Choreographic Incubator
Site Specific Performance
April 4–26 • Saturdays/Sundays • 1–3pm
Pig Iron Studios, Philadelphia
Register Now
I’m thinking about what else dance can be.
Adam Kerbel is a Philadelphia and Los Angeles-based artist working across dance, improvisation, and hybrid performance as tools for reflection and connection. In 2024, he founded Performa Choreographic, an incubator for brave new dance and live art that provides increased access to space and choreographic guidance within the independent artistic community. Inspired by mentors Rosanna Gamson and Michelle Boulé, Performa positions dance as a mechanism to address the personal, political, and bodily issues present in their networks and communities. Performa offers multi-week intensives to bring local issues to the forefront and has partnered with organizations like LA Dance Project, Cannonball, LA Dance Festival, and The Music Center.
Projects
Live Performance
With ties to Los Angeles and Philadelphia, I make solo and ensemble based dance improvisations. Interactivity is a feature in my current work, focused on the politics of bodies. My creative process and teaching value space to create, shared authorship, and shifting perspectives.
Choreographic Incubator
Think like a designer. Performa is a brave space for new dance in, launched in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. During a 4-6 week intensive period, artists drop in weekly to generate body-based compositions in a thought provoking environment among peer professionals.
Think Copycat | Professional Copywriting
With 10+ years in the creative sector, I know how easily time gets away. Think Copycat provides actionable copywriting that’s tailored to web, social media, print, press, & SEO so that your business remains visible and reaches who you have in mind.
About the Artist
Bio
Adam Kerbel (he/him/el) works across dance, improvisation, and hybrid performance as tools for reflection, connection, and memory. He advocates for the independent artistic community as a festival producer, mentor, and guest artist. Kerbel is a TRILATERAL Exchange artist through Philadelphia Dance Projects and a member of Cohort א, a convening of 22 global scholars, activists and artists experimenting with expressions of Jewish post-activism. He established Performa Choreographic in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, co-founded Almanac, and produced Cannonball. His work has been presented by New York Live Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, The Music Center, Skirball LA, Rosanna Gamson/World Wide, WIP-LA, Wende Museum, Pentacle Dance, Dance Managers Collective and Breaking Walls Festival in Cairo, Egypt. Visit adamkerbel.com for more.
Read more:
How I Work
Kerbel believes in the potential that artists and communities have to come together to cultivate ideas and share skills. In addition to making new choreography, Adam uses grassroots methods to amplify the work of artists locally. He served as a Producer and the Interim Director of Communications and Marketing at Cannonball from 2022-2024, programming curator of Fit Fest, developed original dance and puppetry programs at Noah’s Ark at the Skirball, and has been an guest choreographer and teaching fellow at Breaking Walls Festival, The Music Center, and The Shalom Center. He was also a freelance producer, 35mm film projectionist, and a night club coat-check — allowing him a variety of perspectives as a convener of live experiences.
Currently, Adam is a resident of the Trilateral Artist Exchange, a 1-year international artist residency that builds cultural and artistic bridges between artists based in Philadelphia, PA; Budapest, Hungary; and Sofia, Bulgaria. He also completed Pentacle’s Tour Ready Lab as an Associate Producer of Almanac Projects, incubating and representing risk-taking dance and circus performance in a wider field through APAP|NYC and beyond.