What do dining hall workers at Williams College, players in the Japanese Women’s Baseball League, sanitation workers in Austin, Texas, and employees at a Goodwill Resource Center have in common? They are all dancers, turning the movements of their everyday lives into public performances set to music, thanks to choreographer Allison Orr and her company, Forklift Danceworks. This week, Orr is visiting Vanderbilt for a weeklong residency at the Curb Center, during which she will be speaking to several classes and leading a community dance workshop in partnership with dance nonprofit New Dialect. Additionally, Orr will offer a public talk on her new book, DanceWorks: Stories of Creative
Collaboration at Central Library on Thursday, Oct. 12, 4:30–5:30 p.m.
Since 2001, Orr, who is based in Austin, has been collaborating with groups of neighbors, workers, athletes and city employees to choreograph live performances set to music that highlight the beauty of the everyday and the essential work that sustains our cities and communities. Orr draws upon her background in anthropology and her formal training in dance to co-create ethnographic choreography, resulting from long-term, collaborative relationships with the communities she engages in the creative process. The performances, which are offered in public spaces to audiences as large as 6,000 people, challenge audiences to expand their ideas of dance while addressing pressing social issues such as gentrification and climate change.
Orr’s work in the creative and community realms aligns deeply with the Curb Center’s mission to apply artistic inquiry to real-world challenges. said Leah Lowe, professor of theatre and director of the Curb Center. During her residency, Orr will visit classes in Art, Music Composition, Theatre, and History of Art, sharing with students her artistic vision and creative process, and her belief in the power of collective movement.
All are welcome to the Author’s Room on the fourth floor of Central Library for the book talk on Thursday, Oct. 12, 4:30–5:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided, and the first 10 attendees to arrive will receive a signed copy of DanceWorks: Stories of Creative Collaboration. Please email Rachel Thompson, program manager at the Curb Center, with any questions.