Igniting the Flame: A Benefit Concert Celebrating KYL/D’s Final Season

Following the announcement of the company’s upcoming closure Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers will present a benefit concert on Saturday November 8 2025 at the Performance Garage 1515 Brandywine St Philadelphia PA 19130. The fundraiser will support the company’s final spring home season in March 2026. Tickets start at $150 and are available at bit.ly/kylditf.

After 28 years of dance 10 in New York and 18 in Philadelphia KYL/D will host a celebratory evening honoring the extraordinary legacy of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers in their final season. Igniting the Flame is more than a fundraiser—it's a heartfelt gathering of community artistry and memory. This night marks a turning point offering space to celebrate reflect and support a company that has boldly shaped the cultural landscape of Philadelphia and beyond.

Along with the artists collaborators and supporters who have made KYL/D’s journey possible attendees will savor an evening filled with live performance fundraising activities and endless food and drink by sponsor Alex Carbonell (Bourbon & Branch).

The benefit concert will feature curated performances including signature KYL/D works a sneak peek of the final world premiere work and pieces by KYL/D alumnae Evalina “Wally” Carbonell and Jessica Warchal-King.

With the community’s presence and generosity the fundraiser will fuel the closing chapter of KYL/D with passion resilience and intention. Proceeds from this benefit support the production of Fire Ritual Dance/Fenghuang Awakens the culminating 2026 Sunset Concert —a final performance honoring founding Artistic Director Kun-Yang Lin and the staff the many artists patrons and community who have shaped this remarkable journey.     

For tickets and more information please visit: bit.ly/kylditf

Fire Ritual Dance/Fenghuang Awakens will close Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers’ home season on March 27 & 28 2026 at the Mandell Theater at Drexel University.

Concert Program

*Kylin’s Garden (1997)

Choreography: Kun-Yang Lin

Music and Text: Steve Craig (Stavo Mustang Craft)

Costume: Jill Peterson

Performer: Keila Pérez-Vega

In Chinese mythology the Unicorn is known as Ky Lin with the “Ky” meaning masculine and the “Lin” meaning feminine. The Ky Lin embodies the Yin-Yang balance. When we create our art our lives we communicate with an invisible world of feelings and intuitions. There is no solid ground but only fluctuation and balance as if we are walking on water. It is a constant search through the invisible the unseen the unknown…for the unicorn the Ky Lin…

*1997 Premiere at Merce Cunningham Studio Theatre. KYL/D emerged from this concert

*Spring 101 excerpts (2019)

Choreography: Kun-Yang Lin

Music: Bach

Costumes: Jill Peterson

Performer: KYL/D Ensemble

Using a chance method of selected music Lin breathes new life into famous Baroque works through a pairing of contemporary movement and sound design. Evoking the joy of Spring and the excitement of new beginnings Spring 101 marks Lin’s 101st choreographic work in his creative journey.

*Premiere: April 12 2019 at Penn Live Arts (formerly the Annenberg Center) co-presented by NextMove Dance Philadelphia

*Glacier (excerpt) -JCWK Dance Lab

Choreographic Direction: Jessica Warchal-King

Music: Marty Bonk

Performer: Arielle Ridley Megan Zalek Sarena Gable & Jessica Warchal-King

*Earth Blood

Choreography and Performance: Evalina "Wally" Carbonell & Weiwei Ma

Music: Hildur Guðnadóttir & Jóhann Jóhannsson

*Fire Celebration (preview-excerpt of new work Fire Ritual Dance/Fenghuang Awakens)

Choreography by Kun-Yang Lin

Music: Original music by Dayn Ng

Costumes: Jill Peterson

Performer: KYL/D Ensemble

Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (KYL/D) is one of the country’s premier contemporary Asian American professional dance companies based in Philadelphia. Hailed for its superbly trained dancers and inventive choreography the internationally active KYL/D probes at the limits of national identity. Drawing upon Eastern philosophies while expanding the perimeter of contemporary dance Founder & Artistic Director Kun-Yang Lin's zen-inspired practice of dance manifests in lush works of poetic sensibility that The New York Times said "create and inhabit worlds of their own." Lin draws upon insights from his ongoing research throughout Asia creating a personal movement language that is suffused with strong spiritual underpinnings.

The KYL/D ensemble is trained in the company's unique CHI Awareness Practice that is deeply rooted in Asian art forms contemplative practices and philosophies. The company has performed around the world including at the Tanzmesse International Dance Festival (Dusseldorf) Busan International Dance Festival (Korea) Jogia International and AsiaTri festivals (Indonesia) Festival Internacional de Danza in Queretaro (Mexico) Victoria Theatre (Singapore) HsinChu Performing Arts Center (Taiwan).

In the U.S. KYL/D has performed at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival Interlochen Festival Columbia Festival Kaatsbaan International Dance Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Dancing in the Streets Festival the Painted Bride Art Center the Annenberg Center the Kimmel Center the Forrest Theater the Philadelphia Museum of Art the Barnes Foundation and Philadelphia's City Hall.

At KYL/D’s home CHI Movement Arts Center (CHI MAC) the company offers classes for the community subsidized space rental and its signature presenting program the Inhale Performance Series which highlights the work of new and emerging artists.

KYL/D has been supported by numerous funders including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) the Jerome Robbins Foundation the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage the William Penn Foundation and a USArtists International grant from MidAtlantic Arts Foundation as well as support from the U.S. Department of State.

For more information please visit: www.kyld.org/.

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