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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > September > 14 > Entry
Review: Making the trucks dance in ‘The Trash Project’
Saturday night on a defunct airport runway shiny with rain, a bevy of trash trucks and a couple of dozen sanitation workers became dance stars in a spectacular and surprisingly moving performance created by Austin choreographer Allison Orr.
Though the torrential rains hampered goings-on across the Austin area this weekend, it didn’t deter Orr and her volunteers from the city of Austin’s Solid Waste Service Department from going ahead with “The Trash Project,” the massively-scaled performance more than a year in the making.
Nor did the weather deter a beyond-capacity audience from heading to the tarmac behind the film production facilities Austin Studios, the site of Austin’s former Mueller Airport.
In a career that’s included crafting choreography for fire fighters, dog walkers, Venetian gondoliers and other groups whose professions or avocations demand regular physical movement, it wasn’t surprising that Orr pulled off such a complex show went off in the rain.
What was surprising is how much like pure dance ‘Trash Project’ ultimately was. Orr delivered one of her most celebratory, thoughtful and emotionally resonant shows yet. Orr made trash trucks dance — and with feeling and drama.
Bleachers seating for 700 filled quickly and at least as many people stood to watch. Some clutched umbrellas; others sported rain ponchos and slickers. Everybody cheered, applauded and whooped, greeting each new wave of activity as trucks and workers maneuvered through 14 different movements.
Clad in neon yellow safety wear, the sanitation workers did what they do best: roll and load plastic trash carts, jump gazelle-like on and off the back of a rapidly moving trucks and drive with precision in carefully choreographed patterns.
With incredible respect, Orr translated everyday physical labor into cleverly patterned movement without a hint of unnecessary spectacle.
Like the most graceful of ballerinas on pointe shoes, a crane truck operated by Don Anderson glided through nimble moves, its mechanical claw slowly extending and retracting as it spun in near perfect unison with delicate piano music played by Austin composer Graham Reynolds.
At three separate intervals, the dead animal truck wove solo across the stage area as tender music and voiceover comments by driver Tony Dudley told anecdotes of his job such as retrieving deceased beloved childhood pets. After driving in complex patterns, a quartet of trucks with automated arms rollicked through some synchronized moves.
Reynolds, using a combination of pre-recorded music with some synthesized sound and a live piano trio, gave “The Trash Project” an inventive soundtrack that was at times joyously funky and at times touchingly melodic.
A cinematic musical flourish greeted the beginning as the 16 vehicles snaked in front of the audience. A segment of celebratory rap exalted recyling. And sweeper truck driver and professional musician Orange Jefferson treated with a blues harmonica solo.
That lighting director Stephen Pruitt managed to engagingly illuminate such a vast outside area seemed nearly miraculous. That Pruitt did so to great dramatic effect even more so.
But that a crowd of about 1500 could be riveted in the night rain as sanitation workers demonstrated their skill proves Orr’s most salient artistic message: Our daily labors often make the most meaningful art.
Read a story about the making of ‘The Trash Project’ here.
Comments
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By Dana Tottenham
September 22, 2009 9:57 AM | Link to this
Sounds like Orr needs to “take this show on the road”…how about next stop- Atlanta?
By Kate Robinson
September 20, 2009 12:58 PM | Link to this
I am advocating for an encore. I have heard too many wonderful things about it. I will come down from Baltimore to see it and I will be happy to pay!!!
By Carmen Canann
September 18, 2009 7:28 PM | Link to this
A big Congratulations to Ms. Orr and all others involved. I admire your focus and diligence and love of the dance. ~Carmen~
By Jennifer
September 18, 2009 3:31 PM | Link to this
I will pay to see it. Encore, Austin, Encore!!
By Anna
September 18, 2009 11:12 AM | Link to this
We saw it and would gladly pay to see it again — Fabulous!
By Robin
September 17, 2009 11:38 AM | Link to this
I want to see it. We were turned away too! I am willing to pay. I am writing to City Management to request an encore!
Robin
By Whitney
September 14, 2009 3:29 PM | Link to this
Apparently so many people were trying to see this they were turning people away. And that was just the crowd that was willing to brave the pouring rain to see it. Why not restage it at a bigger venue and charge $5-$10 a head to help ease the city’s budget woes a bit? Or if nothing else, donate the profits to local recycling groups?