At the Pennsylvania Ballet’s studios in East Falls, the mood is one of casual concentration. With one week to go until the annual “Shut Up & Dance” performance to benefit MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance,) the dancers are scattered throughout the practice studios working out the kinks for the special one-night-only benefit on March 28.
    Now in its 17th year, Producing Artistic Director Jonathan Stiles reflects on changes since the ballet’s first involvement, when a group of dancers were looking for a way to remember members of the dance world who had been affected by HIV/AIDS. Tired of tossing around different ideas about the proposed event’s logistics, one of the dancers famously said “why don’t we just shut up and dance?” Read more.