Ben Grinberg, C’11


Monday, November 25, 2019

Ben Grinberg has learned the importance of balance, not only in his schedule, but literally in his work as an artist and educator at the intersection of circus, physical theatre, and dance. Six years ago, the recent Barrymore winner founded Almanac Dance Circus Theater, an organization that creates full-length narratives told through acrobatic dance theater. Their work includes silent stories, stories with words, site-specific pieces, and improvisational work for cultural institutions. Ben also serves as the head of the Performance and Artistic Craft Department & Artistic Coordinator for the Circardium School of Contemporary Circus, the first certificate-granting circus program in the United States! He is currently helping to develop the curriculum and pedagogy for this program. And he is an alum and now adjunct faculty member of Pig Iron School, where he teaches acrobatics. In mid-November, Almanac will reprise their theatre/dance/circus/music show The Fleecing, an audience-integrated immersive performance at a historic mansion in Germantown. Outside of these roles, Ben is in the midst of researching a project inspired by his grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. This acrobatic dance theatre piece will reexamine what it means to be second-generation from Holocaust survivors, epigenetic comma, and why talking about the Holocaust still matters.

During his time at Penn, Ben served on the board for Quadramics Theatre Co., and he acted and directed for Front Row Theatre Co., iNtuitons Experimental Theatre, and the One Acts Festival. He was also involved with film clubs on campus. Ben is grateful for the amount of self-direction the University fosters in the arts. Ben credits the extra-curricular theatre program at Penn with allowing him to direct nine shows and having the chance to try things out without artistic restrictions. He felt encouraged as a student to go, do, and try: “That’s the best way to learn as an artist’”to just make some wild proposal and see if it works and learn from that.” Ben shares some fun memories exploring the performing arts on campus. In his first year, he directed Quadramics’ spring fling musical Reefer Madness. During the show, the group made space for the audience to join them on stage for a dance party, and the whole theatre erupted into dance. Ben says it w
as an amazing moment that encapsulated all the energy and passion that this community at Penn has, “this exchange of energy with audience.” Ben also recounts directing a Commedia dell’arte adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap in his senior year. In researching this art form, Ben worked with Platt House to bring Quinn Bardell from Pig Iron to host a workshop on the form. That workshop changed Ben’s life, setting him on the path to explore physical theatre that stems from the body and improvisation, rather than from a script.

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For students interested in pursuing a career in the arts, Ben advises going outside the Penn bubble, into Center City and into the suburbs to take in art all around Philadelphia: “Go see everything.” Getting outside of campus can reveal art forms that can truly inspire and broaden the horizons of what is possible. He also says: “Stay friends with people who you may not think share a worldview with you because I think those people can end up becoming your biggest advocates and supporters, and they will challenge you to make better work.” Ben shares that the arts are important to him because they allow for collaboration and true, deep communication with other people. Working artistically together can lead to intimate and profound relationships that are difficult to find in other contexts. “Artistic expression and creativity have a lot to do with what it means to be human and constantly pushing the boundaries of what we can say and what we can do and what’s possible and what we are able to achieve. Arts has always done that, and we need to keep innovating it and keep figuring out what needs to be said next and what needs to be heard.” Ben shares that his motivation to pursue the arts starts with a drive for the personal connections and individual feelings and moves into facing the large-scale societal issues in our world today. Ben views the arts as a great way to face them head-on.

Photo Credit 1: Lauren Johns
Photo Credit 2: Jenna Spitz

Ramita Ravi, C’17


Monday, August 19, 2019
Hailing from a small town near Pittsburgh, PA, Ramita Ravi spent her undergraduate years at Penn studying Health and Societies and dancing up a storm! She served as the Artistic Director and Chair of Arts House Dance Company and as the Chair of the Dance Arts Council (DAC). She danced with Penn Thillana and was a member of Friars, Osiris, and Oracle senior societies. Ramita was a PennArts Pre-Orientation Leader, and she will be returning to Platt House later this month to teach the Dance Masterclass to a whole new group of first year PennArts students! After performing on So You Think You Can Dance on the day of her graduation, Ramita moved to New York City, signed with Clear Talent Group, and now pursues dance as a full-time career. In addition to SYTYCD, Ramita has performed on VicelandGood Morning America, a Fosse/Verdon commercial, and the premiere of I Am the Night, a new TNT show. But that’s not all! Ramita recently performed in Aida at the Engeman Theater, and she has toured with two Bollywood shows: Mystic India and Bollywood Boulevard. Ramita teaches dance at competitions and companies across the country. She recently launched her own dance company, Project Convergence, which unites classical Indian dance and tap. The members of Project Convergence have done events at Buzzfeed, Spotify, and Lincoln Center; they hosted major dance brand Capezio’s first Holi event; and they are artists-in-residence at the American Tap Dance Foundation.

 

Looking back on her time at Penn, Ramita says: “I don’t know that I would have been a professional dancer if I hadn’t gone to Penn, truly.” As Penn has no academic dance program, Ramita was hesitant when she matriculated. However, her experiences with the dance, performing arts, and Platt House communities provided her the opportunities to not only dance, but also choreograph, develop themes, incorporate videos, run a show, handle administrative duties, and manage a company. She learned the business side of dance, while building her artistic craft. As she grapples with booking dance space in NYC, completing contracts, and developing a company, Ramita credits learning 100% of those skills from her time at Penn. She also treasures the collaborative experiences she gained at the University, working with singing groups, videographers, photographers, and many other dance groups with different cultural backgrounds, goals, and missions. Ramita shares warm memories of the Emily Sachs Dance Benefit, an annual event bringing together every DAC group, strengthening that community and working together for a greater cause. She also remembers working with a group of dancers after her sophomore year to create a summer workshop series, which would become the Penn Summer Dance Series. This program grew to include hundreds of people during Ramita’s time at Penn and continues today. For Ramita, the fond memories live on: “I have so many’”my whole life was performing arts at Penn.”

Ramita’s recent work has had her traveling to Boston, Hershey, Austin, DC, and even Philly! Looking forward, she is getting ready for lots of auditions, and she is incredibly excited about her upcoming plans for Project Convergence, including the collaboration with the American Tap Dance Foundation, the hub for tap dance companies across the country, as this is the first time the Foundation has brought in classical Indian Dance. Ramita shares that the arts are important to her because they are deeply intertwined with her identity: “I grew up in Pittsburgh in a small town, and I had access to American dance from a really young age where no one looked like me. And I also had access to Indian dance where everyone looked like me. Bridging those two worlds and feeling comfortable in both spaces was something I could only do through dance because I was neither all Indian or all American. I’m just both. That’s how it works. That’s what my identity is.” In her work moving forward, Ramita wants to create more spaces that allow people to express their stories and feel comfortable in their own shoes, their own voices, their own skin. For students who are interested in pursuing the arts beyond college, Ramita reminds them to own the multidimensional aspects of themselves: “The more you apply the multidimensional aspects of your personality and what you gained at Penn, the more successful I think you’ll be in this career. I would just say continue to be awesome and well-rounded and multidimensional, and it’ll take you really far.”

Photo Credit 1: Mike Esperanza
Photo Credit 2: Kevin Wang