Cleveland Flats Symphony
and through the entertainment and industrial heart of Cleveland Ohio.
An area known as the Cleveland Flats.
Cleveland Flats Symphony Video Backdrop
Verb Ballets danced to the complete work at perfomances at Ingenuity September 24 & 25th, and October 1st 2010 at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts. |
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Diane Gray initially choreographed a dance to a short suite from the Cleveland Flats Symphony for Verb Ballets performances April 8, 9, 10 & 11th 2010 at the Cleveland Public Theater (CPT). |
Excepts from The Cleveland Flats Symphony accompanied a 3D video of the Flats area which was premiered at the 2009 Bridge Project, an arts and technology festival held in downtown Cleveland. The 3D video was crafted by local multimedia artist Jay Horowitz (special glasses or 3D system required to view this video clip). |
This video tells the story of the Cleveland Flats Symphony Ingenuity Fest 2010 project which used green technology harnessed by a wind turbine for the performance. This video was showcased at the National Dance/USA Conference in 2011 as an example of a unique "diversity of form" work-in-progress from a member dance company (Verb Ballets). |
Full score available (22212-2231-strings).
Movement I
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All is tranquil as we begin our voyage from the calm waters of Lake Erie towards the headwaters of the Cuyahoga River. At the river's mouth, we pass Whiskey Island, only to be delayed by a lowered drawbridge. A train rumbles across.
The bridge rises and like a curtain opening, the Flats entertainment district is revealed. We find ourselves immersed in a variety of sounds, symbolic of Cleveland's cultural makeup. We pause to experience the Flats "Night Club Serenade". Leaving the entertainment district and heading up collision bend, we traverse the indelibly crooked path of the river and are passed by a freighter that all but consumes the river channel. The first movement ends with a cry from the river, symbolic of the hard tolls and environmental abuses the Flats’ area has experienced. |
Click for larger image
Movement II
Around yet more river-bends, under more bridges and traveling on, we approach the heavily industrialized "steel district". Both sides of the river are alive with activity as we pass through the heart of one of the world's largest steel making complexes. Traveling further yet, the river wavers between industrial utility and unspoiled natural beauty.
As we reach the river’s shallow limits, we reverse course. Winding back past everything we have just seen we return with increasing speed to the quiet waters of Lake Erie, from where it all began. |
