Year: 2015-2016
DanceForce Members: Margaret Kaiser, Elaine Gardner
Artists: Elaine Gardner, Nancy Hughes, Leanne Rinelli
Community Partners: Buffalo Academy of the Visual & Performing Arts; Buffalo City Ballet; Friends of the Buffalo Story; Hilda Ramos
Audience: 1,120
County: Erie

The Ferry Street Corridor Wall Project (The Wall) will take place Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22, 2015 at the intersection of downtown Buffalo Main Street and Ferry Street. There will be a total of four performances, with two performances each day at 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm. In addition, there will 6 workshops open to the public that will feature various genres of dance used in the final production: Hip Hop; Burmese traditional; Latin social dance; and, contemporary modern dance. Four of the six workshops will be presented at the Buffalo Academy of the Visual and Performing Arts as part of that Academy’s Summer Art Institute, with the other two hosted at another site downtown (to be determined). Two open rehearsals will be held at the Ferry Street Corridor site where the exterior wall of a storage building with historic photographs from the east and west sides of the city will serve as the backdrop for the dance performances. These photographs will capture the diversity of these communities whose populations are, literally and figuratively, divided by Ferry Street. The “stories” embedded in this photographic installation will be reflected in the various social and ethnic dance forms represented by both communities and arranged by Artistic Director Elaine Gardner to prompt shared pride and a much needed sense of unity. Various dance companies and individual dancers will contribute their choreographic ideas from which Elaine Gardner will create a coherent dance statement.

We anticipate a total audience of 1,120. We are presently in discussion with the City of Buffalo to see if we can create a “festival” that will include dance, music, and food (Taste Of the East & West Sides). This will be the first Ferry Street Corridor Festival in the history of Buffalo. Friends of the Buffalo Story, a repeat partner in NYS Dance Force projects, will support this project and new partnerships will be forged with: Buffalo City Ballet, The Church/Dance Space, individual local dancers, Buffalo Academy of the Visual and Performing Arts, VERVE HipHop Dance, and the Burmese WASH Project.