River Charrette #3: Martha McDonald at Andalusia
River Charrette #3 takes place in the pastoral setting of Andalusia along the Delaware River. It is just a short distance upstream from the commercial recycling operation that was the site of the previous River Charrette at RAIR. Andalusia, by contrast, is the bucolic, ancestral mansion and estate of Nicholas Biddle, one of the…
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Observe Yourself Observing – Phase Two
Please join us this Saturday at the Washington Avenue Pier in South Philadelphia from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. We are more than midway through The Quiet Circus, a year and half long residency at the Washington Avenue Pier, a complex and riveting site in South Philadelphia along the Delaware River. Among the many histories…
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Island Score
The Island Score (as of May, 2017): The Island Score is an invitation to contemplate our human community. It grows as a weekly practice and performance as part of the weekly Quiet Circus events at the Washington Avenue Pier, the historic site for waves of immigration into Philadelphia that occurred in the late 19th…
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River Charrette #2: Billy Dufala & Maiko Matsushima at RAIR
At our second River Charrette on Saturday, visitors participated in an intimate Silent Walking Tour through the grounds of a construction waste recycling facility in northeast Philadelphia that processes 450 tons of material a day. Passing sorting piles, operation facilities and an open field overseeing the Delaware River and the city of Philadelphia, the tour physically…
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Eiko Otake & Ishmael Houston-Jones
Eiko Otake and Ishmael Houston Jones are dance artists whose dancing, choreography, writing and teaching are perhaps more relevant now than at any time in their 40 years of making performance. I am fortunate to spend time with them as they agitate and advise The Quiet Circus a weekly public performance that takes place…
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Beauty & Brutality – Phase One
I’m a bit wistful as we head into the last week of performance, participatory installations and interactions of The Quiet Circus at the Washington Avenue Pier. We’ve been here every Saturday for the last three months and we’ll be taking a break for Winter before resuming in March. Last Saturday the accumulating strands of…
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River Charrette #1: Eiko Otake and Alan Greenberger at Bartram’s Garden
Please join us at Bartram’s Garden this Saturday, September 24th at 2:30 pm for The Quiet Circus: River Charrettes, a collaborative project by Headlong and Philadelphia Contemporary to engage and explore the city’s maritime, industrial, and creative heritage. Eiko Otake, an artist whose work and ideas are a profound touchstone for me, will perform…
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Landscape
Landscape is the heart of the constellation of events and performances of The Quiet Circus. In it you are invited to “observe yourself observing” within the complex landscapes of the Washington Avenue Pier. Landscape consists of nine objects and five koan-like instructions for two people to engage in a simple activity whose experience reveals…
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Island of Signs at Headlong First Friday
I’ve just returned from a week of intensive work in Washington DC at Dance Place through their generous Alan M. Kriegsman residency program. On Friday I will be dancing with my mother Carolyn Brick, who turns 79 years old this month. We are working with Maiko Matsushima who has been creating a riveting visual…
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Eiko Otake and the Limit of Imagination
I am writing again about Eiko Otake. If you were lucky enough to see her perform in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station last year, you know how special the ongoing work, A Body in Places, is. You can read more about Eiko in earlier posts, Eiko Otake and the Politics of Hesitation and Time is…
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