Forklift Danceworks’ founder profiled in Bold Journey Magazine

Allison Orr, founder and artistic director of Forklift Danceworks, creates award-winning choreography with all kinds of performers. From Venetian gondoliers to firefighters, trained dancers to Elvis impersonators, maintenance men to women over 65, her work challenges audiences to expand notions of dance and performer while posing the question: who and what can be presented on stage?

From her recent profile in Bold Journey magazine: “While getting my MFA in Choreography at Mills College, I was eating one day after rehearsals in the school cafe and looked up to see a man washing windows. His movements were both graceful and exact, and I thought, ‘Now this is the most interesting choreography I have seen in a long time!’ I got permission to job shadow him, and from there directed a series of dances with him and a group of his fellow employees that highlighted the movement and rhythm inherent in their work.

“By working with these employees, I was able to collaborate to make beautiful dances AND help my fellow students understand more about their critical contributions to campus life. That initial project laid the foundation for Forklift’s mission: to activate communities through a collaborative creative process.”

See more about Forklift Dancework’s innovative process and work on their website and order Orr’s new book Dance Works: Stories of Creative Collaborations, here.