A Voice from On High
#PVDPublicCanvas elevates community conversation at #PVDFest
What do Providence poet Christopher Johnson, Oakland-based vertical dancers BANDALOOP, and the Cranston Street Armory all have in common?
Well, in many ways, both literal and figurative, they are towering presences. But more importantly, each will play a role in the creation of #PVDPublicCanvas, a site-specific performance that will be the centerpiece of PVDFest 2017.
On Friday June 2 and Saturday, June 3, FirstWorks featured performers BANDALOOP will scale the side of a Downtown high-rise for a dazzling display of aerial choreography. This internationally renowned collective has staged innovative activations of public space in locations ranging from the Kennedy Center to the Sierra Nevada mountains to an office tower in Seoul, Korea. They previously performed in Providence at FirstWorks Festival on the Plaza in 2012 (pictured above), delighting crowds as they flipped, twirled, and flew through the air above Kennedy Plaza.
When they return to the Providence skyline this time, BANDALOOP will join forces with a special guest artist: local poet and performer Christopher Johnson. Suffice it to say, Johnson is used to performing with his feet planted more firmly on the ground. “Just like that I was 30 feet in the air, parallel to the ground and hanging on to every instruction [they] gave me,” he recalled in a recent blog post about his trip to Oakland to begin working on #PVDPublicCanvas.
This unique collaboration will provide the show-stopping moment for PVDFest 2017, the one everyone will be talking about the next day. As the dancers of BANDALOOP perform their intricate, graceful choreography, Christopher Johnson will literally walk down the side of a 10-story building while reciting a poem inspired by Providence’s creative communities.
That inspiration will come out of a special community forum hosted by Rhode Island Black Storytellers' Val Tutson and Rudy "Rudacious" Cabrera and featuring Johnson and BANDALOOP founder/artistic director Amelia Rudolph. The RIBS Community Flavors Dinner and Town Hall Discussion on May 10 will gather artists, activists, and community members from all the neighborhoods surrounding the iconic Cranston Street Armory to talk about the past, present, and future of the Armory District. This dovetails with a multi-platform FirstWorks / Providence Dept. of Art Culture + Tourism Armory Animated by Art initiative, and the building itself will provide a backdrop for the PVDFest finale on June 4th. Johnson will use that conversation and the community input that comes from it as the building blocks of the three-minute spoken word poem he will recite during #PVDPublicCanvas – literally elevating the voice of the community high above the city.
This idea of incorporating community discourse into public performance is integral to both the previous work of the participants and the mission of PVDFest. BANDALOOP staged a similar work, titled #SFPublicCanvas, in the group’s native Bay Area last year; and at last year’s PVDFest, Johnson was part of another dance/poetry collaboration, The Freedom Project, with Everett dance company. And FirstWorks is consistently focused on bringing world-class artists into Providence and connecting them with local audiences, students, and collaborators through performances, residencies, workshops, and community forums.
“BANDALOOP is serving as a megaphone to broaden the scale of what’s going on in Providence,” says Johnson. “We’re going to try to erase boundaries, build communities, and use art as a public canvas.”
“Gazing up to music, stunning dance, and now poetry will be an amazing experience for festival-goers,” adds FirstWorks executive artistic director Kathleen Pletcher. “For years people have asked when we are bringing BANDALOOP back and now, with #PVDPublicCanvas, we are able to couple their inspired aerial dance artistry with this moment in time for Providence.”
#PVDPublicCanvas will be performed Friday, June 2 at 8 PM and Saturday, June 3 at 8 and 10 PM at 10 Dorrance Street in Downtown Providence. Visit PVDFest.com for artist and schedule updates.
A limited number of tickets to the May 10 RIBS Community Flavors Dinner and Town Hall will be available by reservation only – CLICK HERE to request a seat at the table.
Photo at top: BANDALOOP performing high above Kennedy Plaza at FirstWorks Festival on the Plaza in 2012 - credit Erin X. Smithers