City Dance {Forklift Danceworks}
Forklift Danceworks Reinterprets Dance with Machinery
Words by Jessi Devenyns Photos by Eric Morales
Imagine a mobile sub-station performing a pirouette. Picture a tree trimmer imitating a rond de jambe. Now visualize synchronized swimming with a pool brush. What do you see: Movement? Art? Collaboration?
At Forklift Danceworks, creative directors and choreographers Allison Orr and Krissie Marty are trying to reframe everyday movement. “It’s not modern dance vocabulary; it’s not ballet vocabulary,” explains Krissie. “I think we’re really trying to redefine what dance is and what creativity is.”
So why machines with jagged movements and no inherent suppleness? “We’re really drawn to the choreography that sustains our daily lives and sustains our communities,” Krissie shrugs. “We make dances with people and machines that you [normally] don’t think of as dancers.”
In the past several years, Forklift Danceworks has reimagined the work of a variety of city departments and reinterpreted their everyday functions into a beautiful study and expression of form and motion. Their most recent project, however, has led them to the heart of East Austin to facilitate a discussion about our pools.
After weeks of attending meetings with Parks and Recreation staff about the state of Austin pools – the average age of which is 50 years old, and they’re only intended to last 25-30 years – and some encouragement by acting City Manager Sarah Hensley, the two dancers realized that a conversation needed to begin.
“It’s a big deal for the city, it’s a big deal for planning, it’s a big deal for livable communities, it’s a big deal for affordability, [and] it’s a big deal for people’s lives,” insists Krissie. Without them, she laments that our city would lose one of its greatest assets.
Despite the importance of the 51 pools in town, only eight staff members are on duty at any given time to maintain them. Although they work in two shifts 7 days a week, it’s no surprise that it can be troublesome to service all the pools in the city. “It’s tough; let’s put it that way,” says Paul Slutes, City of Austin Aquatic Maintenance Supervisor.
Even with a grinding schedule, Slutes moonlights in his off hours as a dancer in Forklift’s 3-year pool dance project: My Park, My Pool, My City. He shares that dancing out his daily routines gives him a voice in the community. “It’s a positive story that your city government actually is doing good for the community, and most of your city staff want to do good for your community,” he explains.
His first performance took place at Bartholomew Pool in 2017 where each show sold out, and the public in attendance was encouraged to participate in the aquatic spectacle. This year, the performance will be repeated with a different story at Dove Springs Neighborhood Pool. According to Krissie, the story will only begin to unravel as they “ask the questions. Being curious, people’s imaginations just start to activate.” She explains the rest is left up to the dancers’ intuitive movements which the creative duo will then capture and guide into an amphibious ballet.
Visit the website and find tickets when they go on sale: forkliftdanceworks.org/projects/my-park-my-pool-my-city
Contact:
512.222.5287
forkliftdanceworks.org
