Founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Allison Orr, award-winning Austin-based
Forklift Danceworks presents innovative performance projects with diverse communities. Often presented in large-scale, site-specific settings, their free performances consistently play to capacity, with audiences of 500-6,000 people. Partners have included Austin’s African American Cultural Heritage District, Austin’s Aquatics, Fire, Sanitation, Power, and Parks & Recreation Departments, and Goodwill of Central Texas. Forklift has been commissioned by the National Performance Network, the Fusebox Festival, Wesleyan University, the Kyoto Arts Center, and others. National funders include NEA’s Art Works and Our Town programs, NEFA, Dance/USA: Engaging Dance Audiences, and the MAP Fund. The company has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Dance Magazine, BBC Radio, PBS, and NPR. Artistic Director Allison Orr has three times been named Austin’s most outstanding choreographer, Forklift artists have collectively earned 40+ nominations and awards for their work together, and the company is the subject of the award-winning, feature-length documentary
Trash Dance.
About our speaker:
Working in the mediums of dialogue, participation, and collaboration,Krissie Marty makes dances with people who aren’t traditionally considered dancers. As Associate Artistic Director of Forklift Danceworks, she most often engages city employees in dance-making. She created and directed RE Source, featuring the employees and machinery of a Goodwill recycling warehouse, and co-directed with Allison Orr Served, a dance for Williams College Dining Services staff; The Trash Project Rotterdam as a commission for the International Community Arts Festival, PowerUPfeaturing employees of Austin’s electrical utility; Play Ball Downs Field on a historic Negro League baseball field; Afoot! a marching band extravaganza in Houston’s East End; The Trees of Govalle featuring employees of Austin’s Urban Forestry Program and Govalle neighborhood residents as well as conceiving of and co-directing the multi-year project My Park, My Pool, My City, including Bartholomew Swims in summer 2017 and Dove Springs Swims / Nadamos Dove Springs in summer 2018.
Websites:
forkliftdanceworks.org
myparkmypoolmycity.org
Meals provided by Manny Sifuentes, manager at Cafe del Rio, a business staffed by the Texas Commission for the Blind.