We had to put Sixty on hold for a while in order to focus on creating 311, a piece commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for Sitelines 2008. 311 was made to be performed outside the Municipal Building, near the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. I chose that site because of the stunning architecture of the building and the rotunda that you enter when you emerge from the subway.
In a visit to the site in June I discovered that a construction project had been started in the rotunda. There was chain link fence wrapped with ugly green plastic right in the middle of that beautiful space. The rotunda was out as a site for our piece.
It is from these kinds of realities that artistic choices are often made. I shifted my focus to the area just outside the rotunda where people would be congregating to eat lunch and enter or leave the subway and the Municipal Building. I wanted pedestrian traffic to be moving in and out of the dance, making passers-by an integral part of the work.
You can see photos and video excerpts of 311 on our website and our Facebook page.
The Muni Bldg is the center of NYC government. Over the last year, the presidential campaign has brought a new level of attention to government, civic engagement and the idea of change. I wanted to take this opportunity to look at the idea of engagement and change at the local level. What do New Yorkers want from local government? Are we getting it? How would we like things to be different? My hope was that by putting this dance in this setting, we would stimulate viewers’ imaginations and inspire them to see their world differently.
At each performance someone with a microphone interviewed people in the audience and passers by about their thoughts on local government and services. This provided the sound score for the piece. Some themes emerged – many people talked about the need for more affordable housing and many lamented the gentrification that has forced long time residents to leave their neighborhoods. One woman suggested the city provide free housing for artists. A lot of people are eagerly awaiting the Second Avenue subway. Someone who lives in Queens and works in the Muni Building suggested that the city could generate a lot of income and encourage cleaner neighborhoods by enforcing sanitation laws like having a lid on your garbage can and maintaining the sidewalk in front of your house.
We performed slightly different versions of 311 outside the County Office Building in Kingston, NY and outside the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, NY. In Saratoga, the Muni Building’s fabulous columns were replaced by stately trees, and the circular part of the dance took place in a circular garden. In Kingston, property taxes were the subject of heated commentary.
We will resume rehearsals of Sixty at the end of August. Being away from it has given me space to think about it, dream about it, and envision how all the pieces will fit together. Conversations with Clint Ramos who will design the set and costumes have inspired lots of ideas and images. I’m looking forward to jumping back into it.
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Wonderful how you engage our minds and hearts while we see your bodies at work in your dance on engagement. It would be wonderufl to have clips from the performcances for those of us who miss it live.
I love reading this blog and look forward to hearing more about the process and seeing more work!
Best,
Reba
Risa, The whole concept of SIXTY is very creative and evolves with the passage of time. The synthesis of body and mind in the dance seems to involve the audience as well as the dancers.