RED HOOK INITIATIVE (1993-2010): the 18-year Red Hook Initiative served residents of the Red Hook Houses—one of the largest public housing projects in the country—with educational and community programs, youth festivals, and large-scale community-based, site-specific productions by Martha Bowers and Joanna Haigood. All of Dancing in the Streets’ programs in Red Hook were produced in collaboration with Red Hook cultural, educational and community organizations.

• PICTURE RED HOOK BROOKLYN / Former Port Authority Grain Terminal, Red Hook (2002): an interdisciplinary work by Joanna Haigood, Mary Ellen Strom, and Lauren Weinger. On a massive grain terminal, aerial dancers interacted with 100-foot high video images of current and historic images of Red Hook’s people and places. “Ms. Haigood distilled history in this visually dazzling piece, with love and sadness.” The New York Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BREAKING GROUND – A DANCE CHARRETTE (2005, 2006, 2008): for each of the series’ three seasons, five choreographers created five five-minute works in five days for compelling historic NYC sites that were revealed to them on the first day of rehearsal. Artistic Director: Joanna Haigood. Choreographers/Sites: Jonah Bokaer, Tania Isaac, Stephan Koplowitz, Gus Solomons jr, and Nami Yamamoto / Hangar B at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn (2008); Douglas Dunn, Noémie Lafrance, Elizabeth Streb, Reggie Wilson, and Yasuko Yokoshi / Fort Jay on Governors Island (2006); Ann Carlson, Eiko & Koma, Larry Keigwin, Tere O’Connor, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar / Tobacco Warehouse, DUMBO, Brooklyn (2005). “BREAKING GROUND – A Dance Charrette raised the bar for site-specific dance in this city.” Gay City News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE GRAND STEP PROJECT / Six Grand Staircases in Manhattan, Brooklyn & the Bronx (2004): 50 dancers—performing to an original score by Quentin Chiappetta—articulated the forms and rhythmic patterns of six grand staircases in a site-adaptive work by Stephan Koplowitz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OFFERING / Multiple Manhattan Sites (2002,2003): Eiko & Koma’s elegy to a wounded city in the form of a performance installation that traveled to New York City parks, plazas, courtyards, and gardens. At the opening night performance at Battery Park Plaza near Ground Zero, the work “gained special poignancy….and suggested that healing can be possible.” The New York Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DANCES FOR WAVE HILL (1991-2001):  for 11 summers, Wave Hill’s lush gardens served as a laboratory for over 100 choreographers, including Ron Brown, Yasmeen Godder, Zvi Gotheiner, John Jaspers, Bebe Miller, Wendy Perron, Sarah Rudner, Muna Tseng, and Sara Pearson & Patrik Widrig.

 

NIGHT LIGHT / Chelsea (2000): a walking tour by Ann Carlson through the streets of Chelsea, focusing on tableaux vivant, which recreated historical photos in the sites where they had been taken.

 

AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY / Roosevelt Island (1994):“The geographical setting for Meredith Monk’s impressive new multimedia production was Roosevelt Island, a strip of land in the East River. But spiritually, this two-part work took place at the intersection of past and present.” The New York Times

 

RAT-A-TAT-TAP: A FESTIVAL OF PERCUSSIVE MUSIC AND DANCE (1994): “Honi” Coles, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Sandman Sims, Christopher Janney, and Tan Dun at the U.S. Customs House, The New York Botanical Garden, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Socrates Sculpture Garden, and the Apollo Theater. “A brilliant pyrotechnical display of tap dancing.” The New York Times

 

GRAND CENTRAL DANCES / Grand Central Terminal (1987): a two-day festival featuring performances by Merce Cunningham, Lucinda Childs, Molissa Fenley, Philippe Petit, as well as the world premiere of Fenestrations, a site-specific work by Stephan Koplowitz that was performed in Grand Central’s giant window. “FANTASTIC…A mammoth multimedia dance event staged in the nooks and crannies of Grand Central Terminal…will certainly remain a night to remember….Thousands of onlookers, mainly young…The crowd went wild.” The New York Times

 

BROOKLYN BRIDGE DANCE FESTIVAL / Brooklyn Bridge (1983): 250 dancers danced across the Brooklyn Bridge celebrating its centennial year. The popular and critical response to the festival inspired its producer, Elise Bernhardt, to establish Dancing in the Streets as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to producing free dance performances in unexpected public spaces.