Dancing Perfectly Free

Dance, when you’re broken open.
Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you’re perfectly free.
-Rumi

Dancing Perfectly Free (DPF) was created in October 2007 as a way to share original criticism, ideas, reviews, previews, and commentary about dance and the arts in New York City. DPF strives to enrich dance culture by engaging the online dance community and cultivating new audiences. Reader participation is encouraged and welcomed since DPF and all blogs can serve as a mode of interactive communication.

Evan Namerow
Co-founder, Head Writer

Evan was born and raised in Ridgewood, NJ, where she started dancing when she was three. At Barnard College, Evan continued studying ballet as well as modern, movement analysis, dance history and criticism, and dance culture in NYC. She was artistic director of a student-led Israeli dance group and wrote dance critiques for Barnard’s student magazine. After spending a summer studying in Costa Rica, Evan grew passionate about environmental activism. She graduated from Barnard in May 2007 with a major in Spanish and Latin American cultures and a minor in Dance. She now works at Environmental Defense Fund in NYC  and is a consultant for iLAND, the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature, and Dance. When not working, Evan can be found in dance studios around the city, attending performances, cooking at home, or hiking and kayaking in the Adirondacks. She can be reached at evan@dancingperfectlyfree.com.

Allison Slater
Co-founder, Former Contributor

Allison grew up in Northern California. She was a competitive gymnast for eight years before she began studying ballet, jazz, and theater. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in May of 2007 with a concentration in biology and psychology. In college she spent a year studying at Columbia University, where she danced with Orchesis dance group and studied for five months in Vienna, Austria, where she taught dance and English classes at the Vienna Bilingual School. After living in New York for five years, Allison moved to California in June 2008. She currently lives in San Francisco.

Site photos by Allison Slater