| (Raw footage for review and eventual editing) THE ELEMENTAL PROJECT... ...catching a glimpse of Atlanta's recent trend in site-specific dance performance On March 2, 3, and 4, Beacon Dance became the first organization to present a performance in the Decatur Cemetery, with The Elemental Project, 2011-12: Section 16, part 1 (Fire), . The performances are part of an on-going series of site-specific works by Beacon Dance based on the four primal elements: water, earth, fire and air. Water Study took place in October at the stream in the Baker Woodlands on Emory campus; Earth was performed in November on the Beltline not far from Piedmont Park; Fire took place this weekend at the Decatur Cemetery; and the final installment, Air, will be performed at the arts facility B-Complex in southwest Atlanta in early May. The cemetery location was selected in response to the way that Beacon's artistic director D. Patton White has developed the project, with the elements serving metaphorically for the various stages of life, with WATER as the origin of life, EARTH as the process of living, FIRE as death and AIR as what happens after death. Although such site-specific performances have become a strong trend recently in Atlanta dance, the current Elemental series actually represents a revisiting of performances White's group first created starting in 1998. Beacon performed the original Water Study in 1998 in the basement of City Hall East, which was built over the site of fresh water ... |
