Sparky Park Project
A site-inspired ritual for a pocket park
Community residency and laboratory creation
(2017)
Presented and commissioned by VSA Texas and Body Shift
Site Location: 3701 Grooms St, Austin, TX
Performances:
September 23, 2017, 3:00PM & 5:00PM
September 24, 2017, 1:30PM
Video highlights of Sparky Park Project (4 minutes)
Conceived and Directed by Stephan Koplowitz
Choreography created by Stephan Koplowitz
in collaboration with the performers
Rehearsal Director/Project Coordinator: Silva Laukkanen
Costumes designed by E.L. Hohn
Music performed by David Gonzalez (percussion), Adam
Koch (bass), Lauryn Gould (sax, flute),
under the direction of Richard Hall
Costume Assistant: Lily Poe
Rehearsal Assistants: Celia Hughes and Olivia O’Hare
VSA Texas Executive Director- Celia Hughes
The Sparky Park Project was the culmination of an eight-day residency with Body Shift and an ensemble of community performers. Creative research and exploration in the park with the intent of devising material that matched the diversity of the cast within the designed landscape and architecture of the park was the goal of the project.
FUNDING AND SUPPORT:
We wish to thank the following for their support of this project: North University Neighborhood Association, Brandon Tucker, Steve Tomlinson, Kipa Smith, Camille Wheeler, Lynn Johnson, April Sullivan, Allison Orr and Forklift Danceworks, Emily Rankin, Aaron Weiss, Richard and Diane Trabulsi, Sarah Finley, Kathryn
Judge, Mary Sexton, Kathey Ferland, Peggy Lamb, National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Impact Austin, Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and Austin Parks and Recreation.
A special thanks to the spirits of Sparky Park and the colony of Monk Parakeets who make it their home.
All photos by Camille Wheeler and Stephan Koplowitz
