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Performing Arts Series

Since 1984 the Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series has presented great artists and performances to Philadelphia-area audiences, creating an environment in which the value of the arts is recognized and celebrated.

Performing Arts Series 2023-24

All Levels Percussive Dance Workshop + Soles of Duende Live

Workshop: Friday | Feb 2, 2024 | 5 PM

Three dancers in front of a blue background

Performance: Saturday | Feb 3, 2024 | 7 PM

McPherson Auditorium, Goodhart Hall

Bonded by their deep love of music, their crafts, and true connection, Soles of Duende is on a lifelong mission to elevate the joy and music of true collaboration across disciplines and the celebration of the forms they practice.

Based in the sounds of Tap (Amanda Castro), Flamenco (Arielle Rosales) and Kathak (Brinda Guha), Soles of Duende’s fire is the spirit that lives within each of these women to celebrate their connection given their beautiful differences and to uplift the forms that made them.

This event is co-curated by the Bryn Mawr Performing Arts Series and Bryn Mawr Dance Program.

Tri-Co community sign up for free here!

Community outside the Tri-Co sign up here

Queer Screen at BMC: 3 Nights of LGBTQ+ Film!

Fri-Sun | November 3-5, 2023 | 7 PM

Carpenter Library Room B21, Bryn Mawr College

Film still from The Watermelon Woman over a rainbow background and the text "Queer Screen"

Join the Performing Arts Series for Queer Screen at BMC film series, a three-night celebration of contemporary queer cinema!

Friday, November 3: Short Film Night! Enjoy award-winning short films How Not To Date While Trans, Fran This Summer, Grocery List, Here Hopefully, Lucky Fish, PICK, and Warsha.

Saturday, November 4: We’re going back to Philadelphia in the 90s with Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman, a ground-breaking film that’s considered a landmark of New Queer Cinema.

Sunday, November 5: Emma Seligman’s 2020 comedy Shiva Baby, starring Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, and Dianna Agron. This screening is open to the Tri-Co community only.

Learn more!

The Paradox of (Trans) Visibility: A Conversation with Tre'vell Anderson and Nyala Moon

Fri | November 3, 2023 | 5 PM

Headshots of Tre'vell Anderson and Nyala Moon

Goodhart Music Room, Bryn Mawr College

co-presented by: Bryn Mawr Film Studies, Swarthmore Office of Inclusive Excellence, Swarthmore Film & Media Studies, Swarthmore Gender & Sexuality Studies

We’re kicking off Queer Screen at BMC with a conversation between Tre’vell Anderson, journalist and author of We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film, and Nyala Moon, the director, writer, and star of How Not to Date While Trans.

Tre'vell Anderson (they/them) is an award-winning journalist, noted podcast host, and authoress doing world-changing work around society and culture. Named to The Root’s 2020 list of the 100 most influential African Americans, they have dedicated their career to centering those in the margins, grey spaces, and at the intersections of life. Tre’vell co-hosts two podcasts, Crooked Media's "What A Day" and Maximum Fun's "FANTI." Founder and Chief Imagination Officer of the social curation and media production house Slayzhon, they are also the authoress of “We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film” and “Historically Black Phrases: From ‘I Ain’t One Of Your Lil’ Friends’ to ‘Who All Gon’ Be There?’” (September 2023).

Nyala Moon is a director, writer, and actress of trans experience living and working in New York City. Filmmaker Magazine named Nyala one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2023. Nyala was selected to be a part of GLAAD’s inaugural class for New Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative, and in 2022, Nyala was a recipient of the Newfest’s New Voices Filmmaker grant in partnership with Netflix to Support Emerging LGBTQ+ Filmmakers.

Disposable Bodies Performance in Philadelphia

Sat | October 7, 2023 | 7 PM

The Wilma Theater, 265 S Broad St, Philadelphia

Tri-Co students only. Transportation will be provided. Limited spots!

Dancer on a stage surrounded by a blue projection

Witness the impactful premiere of the reimagined Disposable Bodies on the stage! Join the Performing Arts Series and the Dance Program at The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia’s renowned arts venue, for an immersive experience that merges dance, music, and video projections to mesmerize your senses.

Exploring the significance of bodies, Disposable Bodies questions the treatment of both human and non-human forms as disposable. By delving into the realm of nonhuman animals in live performance, we challenge notions of protected and abandoned lives, echoing Judith Butler's fundamental queries: "Who counts as human?" and "Whose lives count as lives?"

This special off-campus event will conclude with a Q&A with Cardell Dance Theater.

Content warning: Nudity, violence and graphic images of factory farming footage.

Learn more about Disposable Bodies: https://cardelldancetheater.com/disposable-bodies/

People of Earth Performance

Fri | October 6, 2023 | 7:30 PM

McPherson Auditorium, Goodhart Hall

Band of musicians stand outside in front of trees

Join the Performing Arts Series for an evening with People of Earth, a global music collective quickly emerging as one of the United States’ most exciting Latin and tropical bands.

People of Earth has a frontline of three singers, backed by four horns, three percussionists, two keyboards, and electric bass. The band plays original music that blends influences from Cuban Timba and Rumba, Puerto Rican bomba and plena, Haitian Kompa, Brazilian MPB, and American soul, RnB, and hip hop, with songs in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Kreyole. 

The members of People on Earth are committed to using music as a vehicle for social change, and through sharing their passion for warm blooded groove music hope to facilitate dialogue, create cultural connections, and spread joy ultimately making the world a better place.

All Levels Drumming Workshop with People of Earth

Fri | October 6, 2023 | 4:30 PM

McPherson Auditorium, Goodhart Hall

Band of musicians in front of white background

Join the Performing Arts Series for an evening with People of Earth, a global music collective quickly emerging as one of the United States’ most exciting Latin and tropical bands.

The All Levels Drumming Workshop is open to anyone interested in having fun learning Latin rhythms. The percussionists from People of Earth will demonstrate Afro-Latin rhythms including rumba, bomba, plena, salsa, timba, and more and explain their function, use, and significance. Tri-Co students across all disciplines are invited to learn about Latin percussion and play in a judgment-free and fun atmosphere!

Excerpt of Disposable Bodies, Discussion, and All Levels Movement Workshop

Thurs | September 28, 2023 | 7 PM

Hepburn Teaching Theater, Goodhart Hall

Dancers against a blue background

Join the Performing Arts Series and the Dance Program for an evening with Cardell Dance Theater, a Philadelphia-based ensemble that gathers artists to create imaginative and thought-provoking dance performances.

Dancers will perform an excerpt from Disposable Bodies, a multi-disciplinary dance work that spotlights the hierarchical relationships of human and animal bodies, followed by a discussion between Founder and Artistic Director Silvana Cardell and Bryn Mawr’s Interim Director and Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance, Tammy Carrasco. The evening will conclude with an optional, all levels movement workshop led by Silvana Cardell.

Learn more about Disposable Bodies: https://cardelldancetheater.com/disposable-bodies/


Providing talks and workshops free to the public to develop arts awareness and literacy, the Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series has partnered in recent seasons with such organizations as the Barnes Foundation, Pennsylvania Ballet, Bryn Mawr Film Institute, and FringeArts. The Series has presented performances by such diverse luminaries as Trisha Brown Dance Company, Meredith Monk, John Waters, Jennifer Koh, the Khmer Arts Ensemble of Cambodia, Urban Bush Women, and Annie Dorsen.

The Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. 

Contact the Arts Office at reservations@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-5300 for more information.