Relics and Remembrances: A French Market Cache
March 23 and 24, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Procession starts at 3:30pm at Latrobe Park
(between N Peters an Decatur Streets with entrances at N Peters, Decatur, and Ursuline ave.)
French Market, New Orleans
New Orleans is a place characterized by polarities; pirates and priests, sorrow and joy, hedonism and purity. On March 23 and 24 Alternative Collaborations Dance, lead by Artistic Director Dana Reed, will guide its viewers on a sojourn through the historic French Market. Relics and Remembrances: The French Market Cache will feature 10 plus local artists, including dancers, actors, musicians, singers, visual artists and costume designers with performances in scenic nooks and crannies. Escorted through the district by a local tour guide, our project will investigate the rich history of the French Market and its nearby haunts to inspire original performance installation material.
Tucked between the open-air stalls of the French Market is Latrobe Park, a people-watching green space accented by sunken seating, fountains and sculptures. The park sits on the city’s first waterworks and incorporates some of the remaining features into sculptures. Viewers observe as dancers dis-imprison caryatid statues, bringing them and each of their stories to life. Accompanied by a female vocalist, dancers move with fierceness and fluidity, in and around the park, intersecting the ethos of womanhood and the powerful element of water.
Continuing the evening circuit, viewers will find themselves in Dutch Alley where three percussionists recreate the “Bazaar Market or Bizarre Market”. Viewers will feel swept back in time as market girls dance, tap, and play baskets of beans and rice and percussionists explore rhythms played on nontraditional surfaces that reflect the meat market in a mere bizarre state.
Terrorizing young children and making locals weary of the waters at night, the performance ends, with the reenactment of the “Rougarou”. Along the Mississippi River performers recreate the story of the wolf-like monster that was believed to come from the waters at night. As viewers watch from the canon above the amphitheatre, performers travel up from the waters performing a native ritual to bring the Rougarou to life. Encircled by the performers, viewers are encouraged to join the ritual or be eaten by the Rougarou.
