Breaking Ground

Breaking Ground is a dance/ skate board/ video project that encompasses open skating sessions with youth, informal performances in non traditional spaces, and the development of the artistic work over time. I have always been attracted to dance in a real world context. This project, which we started in April, has brought us from outdoor sessions, to rehearsals where we retranslate what can happen on the incline of a round wall to what must happen when the wall is not there.
The project, originally planned to follow the construction of a new skate park at the corner of Wells & Otis Streets in Mt. Rainier MD, was moved to the completed Langdon Park. (The Mt. Rainier construction has not yet begun and Green Skate Lab has found many obstacles that are blocking their all volunteer effort.) Nevertheless, we were able to interact with the same youth population, as Langdon Park is located in a neighborhood adjacent to Wells and Otis. Additionally we had the help of visual artist Margaret Boozer who has a studio at Wells & Otis. Margaret was instrumental in structuring participation for the youth engagement sessions. The skateboarders are not organized as a set group or club and members are independently coming and going. One might think chaos would arise, but the skate boarders respect one another, take turns sharing the space with each other no matter the variety of age or skill level, and welcomed our participation by easily joining in even though we were doing a different activity.
This generous spirit also arose with Ben Ashworth and his companions at East Coast Round Wall Foundation who introduced us to the fabulous indoor skatepark they are constructing in a vacated building near the Convention Center at 1250 9th St NE. They are restoring a building that might have been abandoned otherwise, and giving it new life as a valuable community resource right in the heart of the city. We have been thrilled to hold rehearsal, donor engagement, and informal performances in this venue.
We have an outdoor performance coming up in Arlington on Sept 20, we'll be showing some new more detailed excerpts at Woolly Mammoth on Sept 27 & 28, and then we'll be at indoor park mentioned above on Oct 4. I hope you can come out and see us. Jane