Small Cascade for a Large City

A small group of uniformed workers arrives to tend a public wading pool.

Preparing for the water of a humble pool, an expectant corps of uniformed workers anticipates their future as they gaze out.

Variously anxious and rebellious, they test the waters and one other. When the siren sounds–work. Small clusters form, learning from each other how to operate their tools. Releasing themselves from plain work, the clusters raise each other literally and metaphorically, turning tasks into triumphs, and joining together to turn their tools into fountains.

Their expectations, hopes and predilections are revealed as they work with the water and their tools.

Utility gives way to celebration as this group synchronizes its movements to create human fountains.

Small Cascade for a Large City premiered in Toronto, Canada, July 2006.

Work turns from workaday to fantastic in this collaboration with Sara Holwerda. With a nod to Busby Berkeley.



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