Riverbank Park Dance Project was a two-year community-engaged project developed by Emma Davis to create a site-specific, interdisciplinary performance about the history of Flint’s threatened, modernist Riverbank Park. Built in the 1970s, the park was designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, who often collaborated with his wife, post-modern dance pioneer Anna Halprin, to include community voices in urban planning. The project drew upon Lawrence’s collective creative process, The RSVP Cycles, and Anna’s movement philosophy to explore embodied and emotional responses with Flint community members at the park.
The workshop and research process used participatory methods like community story circles, site-based dance improvisation, visual art, and poetry to better understand how Flint community members use the park today and what they’d like to see in the future. Their responses informed the creation of an original performance, entitled Riverbank Park: A Beautiful Future, which shared archival and oral histories about the park while reflecting on the relationship between personal and collective experience. The goal was to increase park appreciation and create a sense of community. A survey of 200 artist participants and audience members showed that 50% had never been to the park before, and after the performance, 100% said they would return in the future.
2015. “UM-Flint Graduate Student Creates Riverbank Park Dance Project,” University of Michigan-Flint News.
Workshops and Research Process
PERFORMANCE
Click Here to Watch the Full Performance on YouTube
Directed and choreographed by Emma Davis in collaboration with artists and Flint community members. Costume Designer: Lydia Parker. Music by: Guitar – Justin Scanlon Tablas – Abhi Utekar Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Blu Mykals. Actors: Anna Reed, Hassan Freeman, Rick Superczynski, Hank Reed, Brittany Reed, Sami Bierlein, Sydney Markel, Priscilla Nazarijchuk, Erin Bright, Abijah Green, Javon Fluker, Ramesh Nadavati, Hannah Nettleton, Brooke Olney, Ji-Sun Shin, Talia Wooten.
Riverbank Park Dance Project was funded by Arts of Citizenship at the University of Michigan Rackham School of Graduate Studies and was supported by Greater Flint Arts Council with generous funding provided by the Ruth Mott Foundation. Additional support provided by Flint River Corridor Alliance, Flint Downtown Development Authority, and University of Michigan-Flint Department of Theatre and Dance.
Emma Davis 