Pittsburgh Fringe 2026

Crossing Paths Movement Collective

DANA Movement Ensemble and Pittsburgh Fringe

Genre: Dance, Physical Theatre

Venue: Attack Theatre

Festival: Pittsburgh Fringe

Low Down

Review

Upon leaving the world of academia, it has been a new and exciting journey to engage with all levels of art from youth to community to professional and beyond. From my experience, though, I have often found dance to be an art form which is—outside of an academic training environment or the professional sphere—often hard to interact with, especially in a meaningful way. Even here in Pittsburgh, a city with numerous professional dance companies, tickets are often hard to acquire or inaccessible, and these are just the shows regularly advertised to the public. Within the platform of Fringe, it is so important to highlight movement programs for the work they are doing to show audiences the storytelling and craft that exists in the vibrant world of dance. The highest of these flowers should, deservedly, go to the work of Crossing Paths Movement Collective and their contemporary dance program featuring the work of four different and dynamic choreographers (Sarah Carlson, Nick Daniels, Malcolm Shute, and Stacey Yvonne Claytor) all meditating aspects of the same theme, which I personally would describe as the following: who are we as individuals, where can we find our community, and how do our differences unite us in our fight to keep going. 

Crossing Paths Movement Collective’s program consists of seven pieces crafted largely in the training style of modern contemporary, but also were no stranger to influences from post-modern, hip hop, and ballroom styles. These six pieces each brought a unique voice to the overall conversation, from a passionate duet on the authenticity and love within aging relationships (It’s Complicated) to a layered large group piece about the complexities of nonlinear grief (ALONE//TOGETHER : Section 4 – “A Place of Healing”), to highlight only two among the many captivating pieces. Each piece of the program not only contributed to the audience’s understanding of the overarching theme, but also highlighted each choreographer’s training and experience creating choreography that unites their visions with their dancers’ abilities. As someone who has been in the role of choreographer, dancer, designer, and enjoyer, this is something I always look for in performance, as when a choreographer and dancer are able to work together in this way, a piece is able to soar. It is without a doubt clear the care and respect the Crossing Paths Movement Collective has for the storytelling and experiences their artists bring to the table. 

Looking at these pieces through the technical lens, each piece brought much variety that entertained both the common audience and the technical critic. I was immediately transported back to my collegiate choreography classes, looking at representations of weight sharing, balancing negative space, pose used as motif, repetition and layering… each skill and fundamental building block on display introducing audience members of all backgrounds to the core elements of modern dance. The movement of each piece was heightened through all the choreographers playing with the relationship between dance and sound, with pieces being pulled and reactive to the auditory cues interspliced with certain pieces where the sound itself could be an afterthought, inviting the audience to learn more about how modern dance grows beyond the movement building blocks.

Through a designer’s eye, each piece took the audience to a different place, both in definition and atmosphere. It is unclear whether the use of dynamic lighting through numerous pieces is site-specific or consistent as the Crossing Paths Movement Collective travels with this program, and this is a positive note. The inclusion of technical elements in traveling shows and festivals–such as with Fringe–can often be visually seen as a final addendum, not part of the initial technical design or storytelling vision. As someone who is involved in the study of sceneography, I was delighted to see intention shared across the elements of lighting, sound, and costume of each piece. 

As readers will have noticed by now, I have been struggling to discuss each dance piece separately and instead made the decision to largely review the Collective’s program as a whole. Some will be quick to accuse that this may be due to a lack of standout performances within this show, which is indubitably false. I do feel that this program could be strengthened with added dynamics and contrast between each piece, perhaps through the inclusion of a higher-energy piece amid many of the beautiful lyrical numbers. Perhaps also this would create the opportunity for the audience to see more of the range of the choreographers and dancers alike, but I feel this opinion comes more from my background in academic dance settings aimed at creating constant new challenges for those in their comfort zones. Rather, it has been hard for me to separate the pieces of this program in this review due to the care and dedication represented through the crafting of the program repertoire. Crossing Paths Movement Collective have created a showcase that feels like shades of a whole picture, just as an individual’s thoughts can exist in complexity. This program is a visual expression of the layers of each of our own experiences, all told through a language all can understand. As we think back to my initial points on how dance is often an art form that is difficult to interact with as a common working individual, it fills me with great pride and joy to know that the Crossing Paths Movement Collective is the work that is filling that hole for so many. I look forward to seeing where the Collective takes this program next and for exploring future programs from these choreographers, both together and apart throughout their professional careers. We are all so lucky to interact with dance that means something.

Published June 1, 2026 by Morgan Hunter