Year: 2023-2024
DanceForce Member: Margaret Kaiser
Artists: D. Chase Angier; Markéta Fantová; Evelyne Leblanc Roberge
County: Erie

Letter to the World VII (Buffalo) is a new site-specific work in progress that is the 7th iteration of a 12-year collaborative project created by choreographer D. Chase Angier, scenographer Marketa Fantova, and videographer/photographer Evelyne LeBlanc-Roberge. It addresses the erosion of public spaces and its effect on the larger community and how restoration through culture enhances long term rejuvenation. The purpose of Phase One in this two year project was to allow the creative team a research residency year during which they could explore potential sites, partnerships, and ideas, creating deeper questions that would fuel their investigation, such as: What site aligns with the mission of this project? What elements of the previous iterations of LTW can be brought forward? How will dance, video, sound, music, print text, scenography and light be activated in this work? What are the concerns and desires from the community surrounding the site? After an extensive investigation of the various architectural landmarks in Buffalo, the Buffalo Central Terminal – an Art Deco icon which opened in 1929 and closed in 1979 – was selected. Located in the Broadway-Fillmore district, also the home of our fiscal sponsor Torn Space Theater, the Central Terminal now has the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation (CTRC) led by E.D. Monica Pellegrino Faix directing a community-driven master plan as a local and regional designation for year-round arts and cultural events. Time spent with Monica – with a hard-hat tour of Terminal, as well as a neighborhood on-site investigation – allowed time for the artists to collect images and ideas for LTW VII project development. As Chase stated: “Ideas need to develop, evolve, disappear, reappear in a new form, blow up, ease in..and all that takes time. Time is the most important ingredient in our collaborative process, and we appreciate the time this project has been allowed. Thank you Margaret and thank you DanceForce and NYSCA.”