The Impermanent Society of Philadelphia announces a 3-day February Festival of Improvisation in Music and Dance with the theme of Discord, February 16, 2018 through Sunday February 18, 2018.

We see this event, which we are calling “ISOP FebFest: DiscorDance” as a way to get together and explore how we, as improvisors, work with qualities of disharmony, disagreement, conflict, strife, friction, as well as their opposites? How do we as improvisors use our practices to navigate, escape, or express ourselves in a time of stressful social and cultural changes and challenges (immigration, national identity, sexual harassment, nuclear weapons, racism, LGBTQIA+ rights, and religious persecution, to name a few)?

“ISOP FebFest: DiscorDance” will kick off with a panel discussion Friday 2/16 afternoon 2-4pm at Temple University’s Tuttleman Learning Center, hosted by the BEEP – Boyer College Electroacoustic Ensemble Project, with the topic Discord: Improvisation in an era of cultural conflict, giving us talk-and-listen time to situate our artistic expressive practices within the shifting cultural and political landscapes we find ourselves navigating.
(Panelists TBA)

On Friday 2/16 night, Saturday 2/17 afternoon, and Saturday night there will then be public performances curated by ISOP at Mascher Space Co-op and Vox Populi matching up performers for sets that will allow a chance to work out some of the festival’s questions in artistic action.
(Artists TBA)

The festival will wrap up on Sunday 2/18 with an open, no-talking sound and movement session from noon to 4pm at Mascher Space Co-op. You are invited to participate. No entry after 1:30pm. Early departure is fine.