Our History

Almanac Dance Circus Theatre began in 2013 as an ensemble rather than a single-author company. Nick Gillette and Ben Grinberg, both graduates of the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training, co-founded it as co-artistic directors, with Headlong Performance Institute graduate Adam Kerbel as a founding company member. The company's guiding belief was that we can do more together than we can by ourselves. A dozen company members and emeriti, with eclectic training in devised theater, dance, acrobatics, and circus, took part in what the company called "a grand experiment in collective creation and governance," making decisions by consensus. The practice was constant: company training three times a week, free AlmanAcro sessions, and annual open Associate Artist auditions that could lead to company membership. Generosity, rigor, and freedom were the stated values, and the work paired rigorous technique with real formal and conceptual risk. The shows included Communitas (2014), Leaps of Faith and Other Mistakes (2015), Exile 2588 (2016), Fronteras and IAMMADEOFSTARS (2017), The Fleecing and Jeanne/Jean/John/Jawn (2018), xoxo moongirl (2019), and later $7 Girl, I Hear You and I'd Like to Respond, Fix Me, and Dead Muse. The company survived on school assembly programs through Young Audiences and on gigs nearly every weekend in Philadelphia and beyond. Collaborators like company emeritus Emmanuel Becerra helped carry the work to Mexico, Egypt, Croatia, and the UK, including Assembly at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019. Honors include the Suraya Award, a 2019 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Movement/Choreography, and a Rocky Award for Fit Fest. The same ethos led to platforms for other artists. Fit Fest began in 2019. In 2021 Almanac co-founded the Cannonball Festival, which grew from 28 productions in its first year to 154 productions and 587 performances in 2023, and later became its own nonprofit. In 2024–25 the company became Almanac Projects, carrying its collective spirit into producing, touring, and festival-making.