SOCIALLY DISTANT PERFORMANCES,
Socially distant Boulder Arts Outdoors 2.0 returns to Stazio parking lot
This summer, Boulder Arts Outdoors offered three evenings of socially-distant diverse performances featuring everything from bluegrass musicians to a modernday juggler. Today, Saturday and Sunday, the drive-in event will celebrate its second installment by welcoming returning and new artists to the Gerald Stazio Softball Fields parking lot, 2445 Stazio Drive, Boulder.
“The August series was a bit of an experiment, and while I had utmost confidence in the talent that would be on stage, drive-in performance is a new experience for everyone, and I wanted to gauge how well it works,” said Mara Driscoll, founder of Boulder Arts Outdoors. “The response was overwhelmingly positive, and many members of the community expressed their desire for more performances.”
When the first series sold out, Driscoll realized she was fulfilling a definite need in the midst of a pandemic — time marked with unrest, palpable worry and an overwhelming amount of online offerings that resulted in Zoom burnout and screen overload. Breaking from the go-to mode of a livestream, she found a way for folks to gather safely and still be entertained.
“I was convinced that I should produce another series when some of the community’s most beloved artists reached out to me to see if they could perform,” Driscoll said. “These are artists whose work is essential to Boulder’s cultural fabric and identity, and they must have a platform. I saw the continuing opportunity to provide that platform and, during these enormously challenging and polarizing times, to keep the community inspired and engaged.”
Joining the lineup, on all three dates, will be Boulder-based dance company Ascendance Project, a group known for its captivating performances that fuse the adrenaline-fueled sport of rock climbing with the wonder of aerial dance, acrobatics and often layered messages of social justice.
Performers will scale a rockclimbing wall that is innovatively engineered to the side of a former school bus. The upcoming Boulder Arts Outdoors 2.0 will mark the official debut of these artists on this one-of-a-kind vehicle, which they conceptualized and built themselves, with the help of area professionals.
“It’s been a pretty challenging process to create the bus wall,” said Isabel von Rittberg, founder, artistic director and member of Ascendance Project. “We were lucky to be working with the incredible local welder Tim Omspach who helped us problemsolve and find a steel structure and system that would meet the requirements for the climbing wall. We ran into obstacles along the way that sometimes added hours and hours of extra work. The detours could have been prevented, but if you have never done anything like this before you just learn as you go.”
In addition to practicing dance moves and crafting choreography, Von Rittberg has been utilizing power tools throughout the global health scare.
“Along the way, I have felt so much support for this project and my vision that even when I wanted to give up and I felt tired of lifting, screwing, drilling and painting, I was being carried by my community,” Von Rittberg said. “Already, I feel like this bus has created an incredible sense of belonging for me and those involved.”
At Ascendance’s first rehearsal, held in front of Von Rittberg’s Lafayette apartment complex, an unsuspecting crowd gathered.
“Neighbors came out with drinks and chairs to watch,” Von Rittberg said. “They had never seen anything like it. I had been worried about someone calling the police. Instead they were in awe. Those are the moments when I remember, I can’t give up.”
This inspiration for this vehicle — that serves as a textured canvas for dancers to navigate — surfaced prior to a time when indoor performances were restricted and yet it fits perfectly within the new era of socially distant guidelines.
“When we first came up with the concept of the bus — long before COVID — in 2019, our mission was to bring our dance to the people, including schools, underprivileged neighborhoods, inner cities, small towns and places where people simply don’t have the same exposure to art as we do in Boulder, for example,” Von Rittberg said. “And, our mission hasn’t changed since then. If anything, COVID has made my vision stronger.”
Further performances on the rock wall will depend on funding from donations, grants and support from businesses. On a notyet-announced date in October, Ascendance will perform in the parking lot of Front Range Brewing Company in Lafayette.
“COVID, riots, wildfires and movements across the United States and the world have created uproar, a constant unsettled feeling and a state of fragility,” Von Rittberg said. “But, what has inspired me is to see the little bit of change I can make in one neighbor’s life by bringing some beauty into their day and uplift them even for just one moment.”
The bus — the perfect road-trip vessel — also gives Von Rittberg and crew the option of heading to states with warmer weather like Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.
“While the multibillion-dollar company Cirque du Soleil is filing for bankruptcy, we might just bring our little school bus to the streets and neighborhoods of Las Vegas to entertain its own people,” Von Rittberg said. “Maybe these are the times of the underdogs. I also dream of parking the bus in front of the border wall of Mexico to perform. For now, we are just excited to get the bus out there into surrounding communities.”
Today marks Ascendance’s first performance since the premiere of “New Heights: Dancing on the Walls that Divide Us,” at the Dairy Arts Center, in October 2019.
“Rock climbing and dance are a unique combination and something most people, including myself, have never seen before,” Driscoll said. “I’m very excited to witness the Ascendance performers’ superhuman strength and athleticism combined with the subtlety and grace of choreography. Rock climbing is such a popular sport in Boulder, and I know audiences will really enjoy this very innovative take on it.”
Attendees can also look forward to taking in the stirring work of Boulder Ballet, the yacht rock of Lady Romeo, the Brazilian roots music of Francisco Marques, bilingual beats of Fruta Brutal and the chamber music of Ivalas Quartet.
“While it is impossible to say what I am looking forward to the most about this upcoming series, I am really looking forward to presenting the Denver Indian Singers and Dancers,” Driscoll said. “Boulder is on Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho land, and the Valmont Butte, right around the corner from Stazio Ball fields is still an important cultural site for the Arapaho. I don’t think we can really celebrate Boulder and its culture without featuring the voices of those whose land we are on, and I am extremely excited to have them.”
Tickets range from $15-$26 per vehicle.
“One of the reasons why live
performance is so powerful is because we assemble, as a community, for an inspiring, collective experience,” Driscoll said. “This is something that is equally important to audience members and performers, and unfortunately, it is largely lost through virtual platforms.”
While winter is on the horizon, it is Driscoll’s hope that more in-person events will continue to flourish.
“At the very least, I would like to bring more outdoor performances to Boulder when weather allows,” Driscoll said. “More performances will require ongoing sponsorships and community support, but we will certainly need inspiration and beauty during these coming months, so I am hopeful. Although safety should be our highest priority, we cannot allow the pandemic to silence the performing arts, and I will continue to search for ways to make them possible.”