A festival in Philly’s Mantua neighborhood traces Black America’s influence in 250 dance moves

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At his Celebrate Mantua Festival this weekend, Philadelphia choreographer Iquail Shaheed will pay tribute to the nation’s 250th birthday by presenting 250 dance moves created by or associated with Black Americans.

It wasn’t hard.

“In the classes alone, I’m pretty sure we’re going to pass 250, but then we have all of the line dances from the electric slide, to the cha-cha slide, to the wobble, to the wu-tang, to the boots on the ground,” Shaheed said. “I’m pretty sure we’re way past 250 Black moves.”

Shaheed is the founder of the Mantua-based dance company Dance Iquail!. Since 2020, with a couple of breaks during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has organized the Celebrate Mantua Festival at Miles Mack Playground.

For the nation’s semiquincentennial, Shaheed set out to incorporate 250 performing artists, which he surpassed with 323 performers, including instructors in styles such as tap, ballet and traditional African; drum line performers; emerging Black Philadelphia dance companies such as En L’Air Academy of Dance and Acrobatics and L’levate Dance Studio; and long-established companies like PHILADANCO! and Native Nations Dance Theater.

“250 Black Moves” goes beyond dance, Shaheed said.

“I love the play on the word ‘move,’” he said. “You’re talking migration stories. You’re talking about political movements. You’re talking about actual physical dance moves. Then the oral histories of the neighborhood: How people got here, what sort of movement happened in their body.”

Uplifting Mantua during a summer of unrest

Celebrate Mantua was birthed in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, when street protests swept Philadelphia and other cities. Shaheed organized a march through Mantua that ended with dance and drumline performances at Mack Playground.

Since then, the event has focused on uplifting Mantua’s cultural assets, which Shaheed says are often overlooked. The festival also focuses on integrating the arts into community development.

“How do we build intentionally with our neighborhood residents? We hear this all the time: How can arts organizations work together?” he said. “I got tired of having those conversations and decided to actually do it. Here’s how we can do it. We do a festival.”

Shaheed grew up in Mantua and is still a student of it. He did not know until late in life that Judith Jamison of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew up around the corner from him. He recently learned that Mantua once had its own namesake, the Mantua Dance Company, which operated for about 20 years while Shaheed was growing up. He said he was surprised to learn his aunt danced with the company run by Janice Jenkins.

“In the mid- and late-80s, as HIV and AIDS were ravishing through our community, as drug and gang violence was ravishing through Mantua, she started a dance company,” he said. “They performed at local nightclubs here in the city, most of which are gone.”

Shaheed said Jenkins will be personally honored during the festival and given a chance to speak. The festival’s lineup of classes and performances will trace the web of Black influence on American culture through dance.

“We have Theara Ward, who used to be a principal dancer with the Dance Theater of Harlem. Obviously, there’s a social policy, political and physical movement there with [founder] Arthur Mitchell’s influence in ballet culture from an African American standpoint,” Shaheed said. “Stephanie Powell, who used to be a principal dancer and principal teacher with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, teaches Horton technique. Horton Technique was also the technique that got Judith Jamison started here in Philly with Joan Kerr in her days at UArts.”

What started as a protest procession of about 30 people in 2020 has grown to an event that attracted about 500 people, according to Shaheed.

This year, the festival is expanding into the evening with an 8 p.m. dance concert by professional marquee companies. Celebrate Mantua 2026 kicks off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 11.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that wobble is a dance style.