Philly Fringe brings a lot of new folks into the Philadelphia performance fold. I recently emailed with dancer and choreographer Tori Lawrence about producing her first Philly Fringe show—Source—and how she came to the city and the festival.

Why did you decide to present work at Philly Fringe?
I felt that it was a wonderful opportunity for a young artist like myself to be seen and noticed in the Philly arts community. My mentor, Pamela Vail, introduced me to the Fringe (she choreographed and performed in Something Striking at the Performance Garage in last year's Philly Fringe).

How did you get to Philadelphia?
I'm originally from Alpharetta, Georgia, a suburb north of Atlanta. My family and I moved to Georgia in the fourth grade. After graduating high school, I decided to go to Franklin & Marshall College. I had in my mind that I wanted to be a doctor and do the whole pre-med track. But then I found modern dance. F&M supported and nurtured me as a young artist: I was taught by wonderful dance professors and was given many grants to fund my choreography. I soon realized that I needed to pursue dance as a career. I just needed to.

After the jump: finding collaborators, finding video, finding venues.

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