Roslintrail – 2022

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Roslintrail, or "Dance Your Way Downtown," is a public art project that I worked on in 2021 and 2022, in collaboration with choreographers Raquel Jacobson-Peregrino, Statix Legacy, and Olga Marchenko, and supported by the Roslindale Village Main Streets and Roslintrail volunteer committee. It started with a call for art: RVMS sought an intervention for 8 sidewalk locations around Roslindale Village that would inspire visitors to enjoy Roslindale on foot and promote fun, safe pedestrianism. I was thrilled when my proposal was accepted: I would work with local dancers and choreographers and prompt them to create dance moves that I could render as "dance diagrams," paint these danceable diagrams on the sidewalk, so as to create a groovy, site-specific walking tour.
 

My collaborators' contributions to this project were more amazing than I could have imagined. Each choreographer offered me dance moves that were both true to their training and artistic background – Mexican folklorico; hip-hop and street dance; ballet and classical – and at the same time simple enough that they could be rendered graphically, and be understandable for dancers of all skill levels. We also sought to have many of the dances be adaptive for seated dancers. 

 

Halfway through the project, I collaborated with the Roslintrail Committee to put on a community art walk. In the course of a fun evening, we took a large group of community members on a walk between four of the completed sidewalk murals and murals-in-progress; tried out some of the dance moves; and even got an expert demonstration of the Jarabe Tapatío and Toro Mambo from choreographer Raquel and her family. 

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There are many work-in-progress photos saved on my Instagram highlights. You can read more about the project and the choreographers via RVMS. And if you're interested in bringing sidewalk dance steps to your community, drop me a line.