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2020 · Dance – site-specific / aerial

Flood

Melecio Estrella · BANDALOOP

The first part of BANDALOOP's LOOM trilogy about the ecological and social impacts of textiles and fast fashion. It premiered at the opening of The Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas, with projection design informed by fluid dynamics.

Recollections

“This was a new beginning for me, Melecio, and Bandaloop. I remember buttonholing my friends and making them record breath sounds for me.

I also remember some artistic pushback from our agent, asking to make it more uplifting at the end. I think it was the right call!

I was sad that I never got to see this one live. Maybe someday…”

Ben
Premiere
2020-02-21
Venue
The Momentary
Where
Bentonville, AR
Performances
The Momentary, Bentonville, AR, Feb 21, 2020 (members only) and Feb 22, 2020, 6:45 pm, as part of the TIME BEING opening festival. | The Momentary, Sept 28, 2021 (Heartland Summit, presented with Heartland Forward). | [W028] The Momentary, Sept 28, 2021 (Heartland Summit with Heartland Forward; screening of SHIFT, live FLOOD and artist talk).
Credits
Artistic direction/choreography: Melecio Estrella with the dancers. Performance & movement creation: B Dean, Courtney Moreno, Roel Seeber, Jessica Swanson. Creative technologist (projection design): Osman Koç. Composer: Ben Juodvalkis. Rigging & technical direction: Mike Rogers, Derrick Lindsay. Executive producer: Thomas Cavanagh. Costume coordinator: Krystal Harfert. Projection mapping: Rumwolf Productions. Video footage: Tiago Santo, Crystal Bridges. Photo: Dero Sanford (courtesy of the Momentary).

Photographs

Four dancers in white hang on ropes against the Momentary Tower at night, walking and reaching across the wall, lit by a spotlight over a projected pattern of blue and white ripples.

Dero Sanford, courtesy of the Momentary

Four aerial dancers in bright street clothes leap outward on ropes from a glass building against a blue sky with white clouds.

The Momentary's promo image, not from this piece

Atossa Soltani (the Momentary's promotional image)

Ephemera

Black-and-white photo of Ben Juodvalkis in glasses, a pinstripe suit and a patterned tie, smiling behind a keyboard, with the bell of a saxophone at the lower left.

Mele's favorite photo of me, sent while we made the piece

Robbie Sweeny

Seen from above, the tower wall is covered in projected blue water ripples; one dancer in white lies in a pool of light while two more lie side by side nearby.

Stills from BANDALOOP's premiere video

Three dancers in white stand sideways on the wall over projected blue ripples, two of them striding in step, their reflections glinting in the glass.
A steep view down the projected wall, streaked with blue and red, with three dancers in white spread across it in pools of light.
A wide night view of the Momentary Tower glowing with a dark blue projection, small dancers visible in three pools of light, a bare lit tree at left.
The tower from a distance at night, its projection of red and blue foliage dotted with four pale pools of light, each holding a tiny dancer.
Close up, two dancers in white hang tangled together on their ropes beside the wall, one head-down with hair falling, the other curled over them.
Four dancers in white stand and lunge sideways on the wall in two pairs, ropes trailing, over projected blue and white ripples.
A pair of dancers in white lean together at left while another pair reaches across the far edge of the projected wall, spotlights pooling between them.
Looms in a Chinese textile mill, which I sent Mele
A vocoder on my laptop, sent as projection inspiration

Mele's first email about LOOM, the idea that became FLOOD.

Melecio: I am embarking as new AD of Bandaloop with this creative mushroom of an idea… the basic gist of the idea is a multi- lens look at the world of fabrics. Maybe titled LOOM.

Melecio: At the momentary on the wall we are dancing on is a mural of a weaving pattern of the Osage people of that land in Arkansas. This was a coincidence... I had started thinking of this LOOM stuff before we knew about the wall... so, cool.

Melecio: Oh yeah and duh... the other thematic tie in is that bandaloop dances on nylon fibers in the vertical. What we do very much resembles a big vertical loom upon which dances are woven.

Mele's reply to my first sketch of the score.

Melecio: The ending is so beautiful. I love this feeling. I’m also really into the sounds of tearing paper/fabric and when the beginning sounds come back in. Yayer to the layers. … I freaking love this as a starting point. this was the perfect Halloween treat. Thank you!

Mele's notes from rehearsal, to steer the score.

Melecio: Key words from the dance in rehearsal that are coming out.... thinking of loom and thinking of fiber that is woven on the loom... to me the fibers are the earthy quality, the softness, also the unpredictability and flexibility of nature. The loom to me is what is built, what is engineered by us to deal, manipulate the fibers / transform them into something else. The two of them are having a conversation with each other.

Mele texting me from soundcheck at the Momentary.

Melecio: Sound check going well. Super competent sound guy... says we can totally work with the track as it is

Melecio: He started with the subs way up and the ground and all living things quaked and I almost puked.

Ben: Turn it up

From Artsy's review of the opening.

Jack: Oakland-based dance company BANDALOOP’s FLOOD (2020), a daring new performance staged on the side of the Momentary Tower, undoubtedly rose as the highlight. Atop an oceanic light projection, performers scaled the side of the building with ropes in a dazzling choreography, accompanied by haunting soundscapes.

Press

“Oakland-based dance company BANDALOOP’s FLOOD (2020), a daring new performance staged on the side of the Momentary Tower, undoubtedly rose as the highlight.”

Artsy · Jack Radley · 2020-02-26

Elsewhere

More with BANDALOOP

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