Middletown Dances!, a day-long dance festival, will take place Saturday from noon until 6:30 p.m. It is the result of an important research project by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism called The Values Study. The study, in which the CFA participated, analyzed various people’s conception of and relationship to art. The CFA was then given a grant to organize a community outreach project based on the findings of the study. Pamela Tatge, Director of the CFA, shared her enthusiasm for the project with the Argus.
JB: Tell me about the goals of this festival.
PT: In the study they discovered that people experienced the arts in [five levels]. Inventive: these are the choreographers, the composers. Interpretive: this is the actor, the dancer in the choreographer’s company. Curatorial: those of us who decide what artwork to put on our walls. Observational: that’s people stumbling upon performances, buying tickets, that sort of thing. It can be argued that observers are also interpreters to a certain extent. [The final level] is Ambient. Many people [surveyed in the study] thought of their gardens as art, or the way their front porch looks.
We thought that we would come up with a festival that would hit people at all levels. As opposed to what you typically see in a festival format, a series of performances and you choose where to go, we’re blurring the lines between performance and participation. Companies are going to present fifteen minutes of their work and then they’re going to get you dancing it. There are still straight performances and straight workshops, but there are moments when we blur those lines and we blur them on purpose.
Another thing you’ll see is that we’re blurring the lines between “high” and “low” art. We’re not making judgments. We’re saying that everybody can dance. A lot of people danced as young people; [often] older people lose that, or are self-conscious about it. We are trying to shape people up a bit and rekindle in them what they felt as younger people.
On all levels we are trying to facilitate as opposed to produce this festival. It’s been about discovering who’s in our neighborhood and really making [the festival] emanate from the community’s interests.
JB: What is the significance of having the festival cover so large an area?
PT: There is a sort of segregation between the North end and the South end, with Washington Street as this big divide. We’re straddling both ends of Middletown. We’re trying to get people from the North End to the South end, South end to the North end. Typically festivals that are done in downtown Middletown begin and end [on one side], or Green Street has a festival, or Oddfellows, but there hasn’t been this kind of [large-scale coverage].
JB: How did you set up the festival?
PT: We did an open call for artists to perform. We had the great pleasure of finding a place for everyone who wanted to be a part of the festival in one way or another, from professionals who are regularly paid for their work, down to the Middletown High School dance team, which is very hot and very good.
JB: What are some special events you’d like to call attention to?
PT: The International Peace Belt. There’s a local artist, Wendy Black-Nasta, who teaches in Middlesex [and who] created a belt that’s been worn by dancers in festivals all over the world. It’s never been done in Middletown before. We’re going to have various dancers wear her belt.
We have something called MD!TV. Videographers from ITS will be filming people walking on the street. That video will be projected live on two plasma screens in front of the laser place downtown [A New World Laser Tag, 423 Main Street]. We have a Middletown DJ, who is a fabulous guy, Arun Ranganathan, who is going to mix live music to the projected images.
Another thing – we have to see if it comes to pass, we believe it will, but it’s only going to happen this weekend if it happens – is the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange that’s going to be in residence this fall, is going to work with waiters from Middletown to choreograph a waiter dance. One of the [well-known] things about Middletown is all of our great restaurants, so wouldn’t it be cool if the waiters from all these restaurants [perform]? The waiters will just come to one practice session, a two-hour workshop, and then they’ll perform downtown and then up on the field.
At 4:30 the Dance Exchange is going to be choreographing a dance for people and their dogs. The dance exchange has had great success doing this in other communities.
JB: What will happen during the Everybody Dance! part of the festival?
PT: After the downtown festival we move uptown to Andrus Field for Everybody Dance! That’s with a DJ from the WESU. The MC will be from the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. She has this very funny persona that will get everybody dancing. The first half will be an odyssey of dance types, from swing to hip hop to waltz. [The MC] will show you one little step, and see if you will enter into it. The second half is just everybody dancing to the DJ.
JB: Aside from volunteering, how do you hope Wesleyan students will become involved?
PT: We really hope that Wesleyan students come downtown and dance. It’s a great way to get to know the alternative spaces downtown, because we’re dancing in galleries, we’re dancing in yoga studios, and we really want students to take of advantage of it. Members of the Boogie Club are going to lead the dancing at the roller rink for us. We [also] want students to come to the dance on Andrus Field.
I think that the opportunity to interact with community members in such a positive way and in such a fun setting is something that students don’t often get.
JB: Why did you choose dance as the theme of the festival?
PT: I think it’s remarkable the number of Wesleyan students who are involved in dance, either from taking department-sponsored classes or the many dance student groups that exist. When I think about ways to ignite and excite Wesleyan students in terms of the arts, I think dance is one of the major points of entry.
[Dance] is also one of the most under-served art forms in our state. The CFA happens to be one of the premier presenters of dance in our state. If we strategically are positioning ourselves as a center for dance, then it makes sense that a community outreach extension of our work happens around dance. We want dance to be better served in the state.
There are open studio type of festivals, there are music festivals, but when do you ever hear of a dance festival? There’s never been one like this in the state. We wanted to do something that has never been done before.
JB: How will this event facilitate the Middletown community’s future involvement with the CFA and the arts?
PT: [A portion of our grant is] dedicated to survey work. We’re going to be evaluating our work at the same time as doing the work, and that’s a rare opportunity for arts organizations that will really help them build on this event.
We are encouraging everyone who comes to fill out their name, address, and email. That will be shared with all arts organizations in Middletown. This is a prospecting event. We want to identify people who want to participate in events, and who perhaps will be drawn to this event even if they would never come to the CFA because of the magnitude [of the festival], which will get them to travel to Middletown.
JB: Anything else you would like to mention?
PT: We are going to have a number of Red Cross booths set up for people to contribute to Hurricane relief.
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