On May 11-13, gloATL will take over the Historic Fourth Ward Skate Park with “the search for the exceptional,” a new work by choreographer Lauri Stallings. This hour-long piece extends gloATL’s fervent collaborative reach into the community by bringing together contemporary dance, film and projections, machines and the sport of skateboarding. The work marks the first collaboration between Atlanta filmmaker Micah Stansell and Stallings, with underwater filming and precarious aesthetics playing a prominent role in the new creation. The skateboarders of the park and experts of Sunbelt Rental Co. also will play an integral part.
Performances will take place at the following times:
- Friday, May 11 at 8:30 p.m.
- Saturday, May 12 at 8:30 p.m.
- Sunday, May 13 at 8:30 p.m.
Below is an overview of the project from gloATL:
Since their beginnings in the late 19th century, municipal recreation centers have served as conduits for social, cultural, and institutional transformation that involved important developments of the period, including the erosion of Victorian culture, the emergence of popular recreation, gender integration and desegregation, and the sexualization of public culture. In short, the history of these “centers,” particularly swimming pools, dramatizes America’s perpetual transition from a newfound, industrial region to a mature, urban society.
With contemporary dance as the cornerstone, “The search for the exceptional” investigates Atlanta’s unique role in both the history and present-mindedness of recreation centers as a stage for progress in dynamics that are shaping the 21st century: journey as a cultural form. Presently, these public centers and pools represent a strong case in the quality of community life and the extent of social engagement in America. That consumption and commercialism have became the dominant cultural ethos in 21st century America, dynamically wiping out all competing public cultures, is reason to support public centers, where American citizens help create a vibrant public culture not primarily focused on spending money and consuming goods, but of sharing in public conversation and physical exercise. And artists today are the ideal navigators amidst this intimate, prolonged contact, both physical and sociologically- navigators through what history has described “turbulent waters.”
Themes of this performance piece include “modes of transportation/ public recreation’s catalysts’ role/ absolute precariousness/ being together/ observing.”
gloATL debuted on the Atlanta arts scene in 2009 and were commissioned as part of our 2011 Art on the Atlanta BeltLine exhibition.
The Historic Fourth Ward Skate Park is located at 830 Willoughby Way, Atlanta, 30312.
