Dancing in the Streets

In 1992, Dancing in the Streets launched a comprehensive initiative in Red Hook, Brooklyn, an isolated yet vibrant community entering a period of economic and demographic transformation. Through this ongoing initiative, Dancing in the Streets meets with a consortium of community partners to develop arts and cultural programming in the community. Specifically, Dancing in the Streets conducts dance arts-in-education in-school and after-school programs through its Dancing in the Schools initiative, produced the annual Young People's Performance Festival (1995-2000), participates in the annual Red Hook Waterfront Arts Celebration, and has commissioned site-specific works by Martha Bowers (On the Waterfront in 1993 and Safe Harbor in 1998) and by Joanna Haigood (Picture Red Hook in 2002).

In 2003, Dancing in the Streets began presenting Dancing in City Parks, an annual series of free public dance performances and workshops in Coffey Park, located in the heart of Red Hook among the Red Hook Houses. The series is presented in partnership with the City Parks Foundation and local community groups including Old Timers, Friends of Coffey Park, and the Red Hook Community Justice Center.

Located on the Brooklyn waterfront, Red Hook developed as a thriving community over 150 years ago as home to major shipping industries. The decline of these industries after WWII and the construction of major highways and waste transfer sites in the area, tore the community apart and isolated its remaining residents from the rest of the city, leaving them with little or no access to public transportation, retail markets, jobs, or other necessities.

While Red Hook has suffered economically, it is a community rich with cultural and human resources. Red Hook has often been described as a village by residents and visitors alike.

Red Hook’s piers offer a spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline and it is home to one of the oldest and largest public housing developments in the country.

In May 2001, as part of the Picture Red Hook project, Dancing in the Streets, together with Red Hook community and social service organizations, churches, tenants associations, businesses, and schools and youth programs, organized an historic event in the neighborhood. 1,000 people gathered together to celebrate the unity of Red Hook by posing for a giant group photograph.

An enlargement of the photograph is permanently displayed in the Coffey Park House in the heart of Red Hook and was the final image of Picture Red Hook, an interdisciplinary work set at the former Port Authority grain terminal which focused on the community’s hopes and dreams. Picture Red Hook, featured aerial dance, giant video projections, and an electronic sound scape, and was conceived and directed by Joanna Haigood, in collaboration with video artist Mary Ellen Strom and composer Lauren Weinger.

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Photo: Stewart Martin