As one who feels that dance is a powerful birthright too often neglected, both individually and culturally, I celebrated the opportunity to be in Wellfleet last summer for the Fleet Moves festival. With a wonderful air of spontaneity, dance was happening everywhere; emerging from the wild landscape and the bustling town. For the days and nights of the festival, dance was liberated from its usual confines and enlivened Wellfleet.
—Anne Fayen, Wellfleet
Fleet Moves endeavors to create artist-driven community engagement at a grassroots level with a program of events that includes daily movement classes to foster somatic awareness, artist-led sensory walks, as well as custom-made performances in dialogue with the unique culture and landscape of Wellfleet.
The goals of the festival are threefold:
- To create a fertile creative space for artists to support each other through reciprocity rather than financial investment
- To develop innovative cultural programming in a community without regular access to dance classes and performance
- To research dance as a tool for physical, environmental, and social awareness
WHAT TO EXPECT:
SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCES will provide an opportunity to experience dances inspired by Wellfleet’s own history, culture, and natural landscape. Choreographed to the pulsing rhythms of the ocean, the sloping stage of the sand, and the flat expanses of beach lots, these unique performances are not to be missed.
INDOOR PERFORMANCES at Wellfleet Preservation Hall will showcase the work of emerging and seasoned choreographers in two different shared bills. Join us for UNDERSCORE Open House for an evening of improvised performance, or take in 10×10—an evening of dances created for a small stage.
WORKSHOPS for teens and adults will offer exposure to a broad range of movement styles. Each class will be tailored to the level of the participants, whether dancing for the first time or at a more advanced level. Example topics include: Ballet for Every Body, Graham-based Modern, Improvisation, African Dance and Drumming, Move+Write+Draw, and Dance Filmmaking.
KIDS CLASSES will take place each day of the festival at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, creating fun opportunities to play and create through movement.
DANCE SOCIAL will end the festival on a high note, with guest DJ’s spinning reggae, soul, and tropical dance music.
SENSORY WALKS, guided walks in nature that include exercises to heighten sensory awareness, will also afford leaders and participants to take their dancing outside of the studio and into the world around them.
