Six students in Barry Chernoff’s ENVS197 (Introduction to Environmental Studies) course worked side-by-side with members of Wesleyan’s Physical Plant this semester, as part of a collaborative project with Forklift Danceworks, an organization that employs performance to activate communities through a collaborative creative process. The Austin-based organization was founded by choreographer Allison Orr, a former Menakka and Essel Bailey ’66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar here at the COE, who lead the project, with help from Forlift’s assistant choreographer Gretchen LaMotte ’18.
As an alternative to a final project, the students worked with employees for an hour each week, and collaborated on a live in-class performance for a standing-room-only crowd of onlookers on November 30 at Exley Science Center. More photos can be found here!
This is the second collaborative project between the COE and Forklift Danceworks. In 2016, Wesleyan students partnered with city water and sewer workers for a performance-based project.