river sway
River Sway was a site-specific collaborative performance born out of conversations between Leah Stein of the the Leah Stein Dance Company and myself. The conversations and consequently the performances, took place along the banks of the Schuylkill River during Art in the Open, an organization that "celebrates the Philadelphia landscape as both inspiration and as an open-air studio for artists." The sculptural element I constructed was lowered from the Chestnut Street bridge into the performance and engaged with, and eventually carried away by the dancers. It's form was intended to be evocative of a vessel that interacts with the water, the bridges that span the river, and scaled to the human body.
The sculptural element from River Sway was also used for a performance entitled "Hull" that was performed as part of the Leah Stein Dance company's 10th Anniversary at the Performance Garage.
all images © carolyn hesse
