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Water Locale
The Willamette River
The Choreographers
Beverly Burke, Tamara Gilbert, Kirsten Peterson (and dancer Emily Fern Dayton)
(see 2011 performance details for choreographer biographies)
Audience Site
The Eastbank Esplanade on the east side of The Willamette River across from downtown, under I-5.
The performance took place at the Salmon Street Plaza (also known as the Festival Plaza) on the Esplanade.
Audience was invited to participate and mingle with the dancers in the plaza on the water side of the bike path.
Time of Performance
3 p.m.
History of site and related water issues
The Willamette River runs south to north from the mountains east of Eugene Oregon, through Portland where it drains into the Columbia River in north Portland. There is a long history of industrial pollution and sewer runoff and there are a few Superfund sites in Portland. The Big Pipe project has eliminated sewer overflows and there are efforts to clean up the contaminated sites. The river splits Portland in half and there are 9 bridges that span the river. There are public parks/esplanades along both sides of the river and other parks as well. The river is big.
The Performance
Dance improvisation for dancers and audience — the universally choreographed “water dance” — universal ending with audience participation.
Directions to site of the performance
Ride your bike or walk the Eastbank Esplanade! Performance is at Salmon Street Plaza between the Hawthorne Bridge and the Morrison St Bridge.
If you need to drive: park in inner SE industrial area (ie Water Street and other side streets) and enter at Salmon Street.