Turning the dance floor on its side

BANDALOOP

Directed by Melecio Estrella, BANDALOOP’s FIELD deepens and challenges our perspective on the ancestry, art, and industry of textiles.  FIELD brings together a collective of performing artists, regenerative textile artists, a sustainability strategist, and creative riggers to turn an urban wall into a performance space, interlacing ancestral weaving mythologies and traditional techniques of fabric creation with expressions of the ecological and social impacts of a globalized textile industry.

As one of the largest polluting industries in the world, the human and ecological impact of clothing and fashion is easily overlooked in our modern consumer lifestyles. The stories of FIELD will illuminate this massive ecological problem, juxtaposing it with the cross cultural power of cloth to hold, comfort, adorn, and sanctify the human experience. Fabric stories will be drawn from the swaddling blanket, the altar cloth, the burial shroud, and the fishing net.

Textile culture bearer and fashion designer IB Bayo will create a couture line of costumes and large fabric set pieces for FIELD. Born in Osogbo, Osun State Nigeria, Bayo learned to weave from his mother and sew from his father who made clothing for Nigerian royalty. His family has been farming and crafting with cotton and silk since the 1500s.

FIELD travels with a cast of six dancers, theater artist Chibueze Crouch and performer/composer Ben Juodvalkis. The work turns the side of a building into a giant loom where dances are woven from scientific research and ancestral stories. The musical score will include live singing and spoken word from the ground, the wall and the rooftop, sonically elevating the stories of FIELD .

Sustainability strategist Catherine Bottrill is working with the team to facilitate public online story circles on climate and labor movements in the textile sector, highlighting nature based solutions in cotton supply chains and high impact sustainability measures in the fashion industry.

FIELD is the second work of LOOM a multi-year initiative of programming centered on the social, ecological, and spiritual impacts of fabric.

Photo by Julie Yarbrough Photography

About the Artist

A pioneer in vertical performance, BANDALOOP seamlessly weaves dynamic physicality, intricate choreography, and climbing technology to turn the dance floor on its side. Founded by Amelia Rudolph, and based in Oakland, California, BANDALOOP re-imagines dance, activates public spaces, and inspires wonder and imagination in audiences around the world. The company trains dancers and youth at home and on tour, and has performed for millions of people in over 22 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Asia.

See Also

Watch full Flux Film by Proper Medium

See photo essay by AJC

Listen to WABE's City Lights interivew with Artistic Director Melecio Estrella

Read Atlanta Magazine highlight

Read ArtsATL's preview

Watch AIB TV's Art Comes Alive feature, part 1

Watch AIB TV's Art Comes Alive feature, part 2

Watch AIB TV's Art Comes Alive feature, part 3

Project Sponsors

FIELD was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  This funding supported the creation of the work by BANDALOOP as well as its tour to multiple cities, including Atlanta.

Plan Your Visit

To help you make the most of your BANDALOOP experience, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions.

If you are joining us from out of town, reservations can be made at the Wylie Hotel.  One of Atlanta’s newest boutique hotels, the Wylie is a revival of the historic 551 Ponce.  The Wylie is a short walk to 725 Ponce, as well as amazing restaurants such as 8 Arm or the many establishments at Ponce City Market.