The Inspired Pedestrians

The Kansas City streetcars will give new opportunities for pedestrian connection. “The Inspired Pedestrians” is a video and performance project capturing an idealized dance of pedestrian traffic. It explores the joy and awkwardness of steps and connections that develop between people over the course of a streetcar ride. In collaboration with a few local dancers, we will playfully ignite viewers’ thoughts about the shared humanity of the daily commute. There will be two layers to present to the public: a filmed dance performance and public projections of the final video. The filmed dance performance will happen within the flow of natural commuter traffic on the streetcar platforms. The final film portrayal will magnify nuances, imaginative bursts and happy levitations.

The performance will be enacted by acclaimed dancers from the Kansas City Ballet including Joshua Bodden, Ivan Braatz, Miranda Dafoe, Tempe Ostergren and Molly Wagner. Ostergren and Wagner recently danced the legendary role of Odette/Odile in the Kansas City Ballet’s production of Swan Lake earlier this year.

Date and Location

The performance will start at the Union Station Streetcar Stop at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, July 15 and end at the Kauffman Center NB Stop.

Program Details

12:00 p.m. – Performance begins at the Union Station Streetcar stop
(Dancers will perform in approximately 20 minute intervals with short breaks.) 
12:45– Performance will continue on-board the Streetcar.
1:00-15- Perform briefly at the Kauffman Center Streetcar stop
1:30 – Return to Union Station via Streetcar
1:45 pm – Perform Goodbyes at Union Station streetcar – End.

Credits

Created and Directed by Elizabeth Stehling
Participants: Kansas City Ballet Dancers Joshua Bodden, Ivan Braatz, Miranda Dafoe, Tempe Ostergren, and Molly Wagner
The performance score is facilitated by Jennie Wakefield, Tamalpa Life/Art Process Practitioner in collaboration with Elizabeth Stehling. This method allows the movements to be inspired by inner awareness as opposed to choreographed. The Tamalpa Institute is based on the teachings and ideas of Anna Halprin, dance pioneer, and her husband Lawrence Halprin, the highly-regarded landscape architect.
Additional photography by Steve Snell, Faculty, Kansas City Art Institute

Bio

Elizabeth Stehling’s artwork explores relationships between people using dance and gesture. She has shown her short films at festivals and galleries across the country. Stehling earned her M.F.A. from The Pratt Institute in 2010 and moved to Kansas City in 2015.

elizabethstehling.com

vimeo.com/elizabethstehling

Twitter: @ElizabethStehli

Facebook: @ElizabethStehling