A new book published by Wesleyan University Press this month invites readers to ride along with Austin choreographer Allison Orr and her civic collaborators as they reflect on their dances together.
Part memoir, part guide, the artist reflects on her major collaborations and shares interviews with people she’s made dances with over the past two decades. Power line workers, sanitation workers, and firefighters reflect on their memories of performing with Forklift and the lasting impact those dances made.
Alongside larger conversations in the arts, Orr offers a look at how to create community-based art projects, how the creative process can bring people together to address civic issues, and the beauty of choreographing the day to day. An appendix and online companion include budget information, full cast and crew lists, participant survey results, and more.
This book is “a spellbinding story of an artist’s journey to inspiring and facilitating creativity in ‘ordinary’ people,” said Doug Borwick, author of Building Communities, Not Audiences and Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable. “If more firefighters, sanitation workers, and electrical grid professionals were involved in ‘doing’ art as described here, the arts—and our communities—would be far healthier.”
Wesleyan University Press publishes approximately twenty new books each year, primarily in the fields of music, dance, and the arts, including 6-8 titles each year in poetry. Other dance authors published by the press include Liz Lerman, Deborah Hay, Anna Halprin, and Eiko Otake.
Wesleyan University Press publishes approximately twenty new books each year, primarily in the fields of music, dance, and the arts, including 6-8 titles each year in poetry. Other dance authors published by the press include Liz Lerman, Deborah Hay, Anna Halprin, and Eiko Otake.
Purchase the book at forkliftdanceworks.org/dance-works-stories