General Info

When Artistic Director Susan Hess founded Susan Hess Modern Dance in Philadelphia in 1980, she was responding to the great needs for local artists to have the resources of space and time in which to develop their craft and a safe, supportive atmosphere for their growth. She acquired former assembly-plant and storage space on the top floor at 2030 Sansom Street near Rittenhouse Square, which her husband, architectural woodworking specialist Richard Herskovitz, redesigned as a dance studio in which Hess taught young dancers in the city. In 1984, after incorporation as a nonprofit, SHMD launched the Choreographers Project residency program for independent local artists - and a new chapter began in Philadelphia dance history.