We set out to create a site-specific dance performance throughout the UNESCO World Heritage site Castillo San Cristóbal in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Having pioneered and created site-specific dance performance for over 25 years, this project would mark the 13th distinct full-scale iteration of our long-standing series A Curious Invasion, the 22nd site-specific/site-adaptive work overall, and the second at a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our collaborators were Yanira Martinez and Héctor Rivera of the National Park Service, which administers the two historic forts in San Juan. TDPS/MFA Dance graduate Allen Xing and his husband, Dennis Chyba, who have a home in San Juan and originally introduced us to the site, served as local liaisons to the Castillo and local dance artists.
Rehearsals and performances from May 25-June 2, 2019 were free and open to the public. The cast was comprised of three professional dance artists, all long-time PWDT (PEARSONWIDRIG DANCETHEATER) company members, and three current TDPS students. In addition to the local population, the audience was comprised of international tourists visiting the Castillo as part of their sightseeing activities during their cruise ship’s stop in San Juan. This most unusual arrangement led to a near constant flow of spectators throughout the days. Many people were eager to engage in conversation with us about what we were doing, including commenting on their own connections to the University of Maryland. As a result, hundreds of people were exposed to the work as a UMD/TDPS project, some catching glimpses in passing, many staying for an entire rehearsal and/or performance of the dance.
This marking the second such project at a UNESCO World Heritage Site for us, we are very interested in keeping this connection alive and plan to create works at UNESCO sites in the future. Our connection to the National Park Service has already lead to new creative relationships at historic forts in the Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia area and beyond. In fact, this spring we received a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to create a new work at Fort McHenry in Baltimore that would expand on our research in Puerto Rico.