January 15, 2015: Meredith: Photo Dance

https://www4.uwm.edu/sarup/news/washingtonpark2014.cfm  This is a link to the announcement of the unique Dec 13 UWM Dance Performances held in the Washington Park Area. It is a good introduction to our presentation today by Meridith Watts.

   Meridith Watts, who is a member of our group, has been involved in an ongoing educational project involving three departments at UWM:  architecture, dance, and public art. The project involved several steps. Part I involved preliminary meetings which included walkabouts in the Washington Park area of Milwaukee, near Lisbon and 33rd Street. Members of these three departments walked around this neighborhood to find spaces where public art could be displayed, where public dance performances could be staged in the outdoors and in certain available indoor spaces, and where architecture contributed to the space involved. During these walkabouts, ideas for these spaces were charted and later the GPS readings for the final choices were mapped and could be found on a phone app. Part II involved some trial performances and setting up the script and the plans for these performances. This occurred in November 2014. The planned dance performances were done in December 2015. The plan still includes a Part IV where some of these dance performances will be done in more typical urban performance sites including UWM.
     During the development of these performances, it was known that often non traditional spaces would be "refunctioned" for the purpose. Great effort was made to understand the space and to use a sensitivity, and in some case improvisational flexibility in the scripting of the art and movements depending on the audience environment. There would be some audience performer separation which would be porous borders but separation of function. This would not be a flash mob type of performance but it would be more planned and in a different kind of space, not a crowded public space. It also would not be a "block party" event where the audience becomes totally participatory with unplanned sequences, more in the line of a celebration.
     In the development of these presentations, scripts and sequences were tried out, trying to find what would fit in the space chosen. Generally, this would require small movements, not the large expansive moves. The Neighborhood Interventions part of the project were performed at Amaranth Cafe, near Lisbon and Washington Park, the Koenig House garden on 33rd St, a vacant lot, and the Rosalind Cox house on 33rd and Galena as well as an empty house due to be rejuvenated. The audience achieved at this event consisted of a mixed group of students and some people who were picked up along the way.  Meredith told of one audience member who said: "You know, your dancers are good,, but they are not into the 4th dimension enough!". Wow. Reportedly the dancers are still thinking about that comment.
     The actual performances after the several months of preparation were at the Amaranth Cafe, Rosalind Cox house, and other outdoor spaces, as well as the Express Yourself Milwaukee Community Art Center which is located close to the Amaranth Cafe. These areas form kind of a social and service vortex for the area. Brochures were prepared that listed the sites and expected times of performance so that an audience could catch up with the tour wherever they wished. It is estimated that a hundred to a couple hundred people were able to view at least portions of the performances. Just driving through this neighborhood one does not see or expect anything like this. But every space belongs to someone and has character and many of these spaces attracted the students to take advantage of their unique characteristics. Two of the student dancers were residents of the Washington Park area and could provide much information to enable the remainder of the troop to understand the neighborhood better. Forty students participated along with at least 3 photographers. Several credits were given to the organizers of this event. There also is some public art space at 33rd St and Lisbon across from the Amaranth Cafe.
     It should be noted that the performances did not represent the stories of any people. There was not a specific narrative. The performances were movement oriented, movements in the space. They were usually designed to be 15 minutes long. For a narrative, one usually needs a longer time and more space. Also more writing and planning would be required.   Aritjii Sen, one of the organizers believes the architecture matters; the space matters. Interestingly during the neighborhood walkabout preparations, architecture students walked geometrically around blocks looking for spaces, while the dancers followed the flower gardens.
     Spiritually, several things happened during this project. Some of the students, dancers, and even with architect students, some had foregone feelings about the Washington Park neighborhood, perhaps sometimes based on the police blotter. Some felt the same after the performances but many were transformed. Then the whole project became spiritual. The dancers did receive various dance instructions, such as "raise your chest"; "open your back"; lift", "open your heart".  Whereas typical dance training for Martha Graham modern dance often instructed the dancers to move with their pelvis to ground themselves, these instructions seemed to involve more upward motion, more lifting, and opening.
     The project will continue with performances to be done in more traditional urban show spaces. Meredith showed us many photos of the spaces, the dancers, a video of the dancing in the various spaces as well as a photo of some of the public art which is still on display in the area.

     There is some background on the selection of this area for these three UWM departments to use as a space for performance and art. The UWM Department of Architecture had a project to investigate the Washington Park area and write about what moved them about the spaces seen here. Read about the history of the area and multiple pieces written by the UWM students as part of the educational project by the students of architecture.  Google [Washington Park Stories] or use this link: http://arch302.weebly.com/urban-park-spaces.html