Asheville Rites Project

Asheville Rites Project: Outline

We want to create a performance art event that will be totally free and open to the public in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC. The space for the event is the RiverLink Sculpture and Performance Plaza, an outdoor venue along the banks of the French Broad River. Molly Rose Freeman will install a series of wall-sized panels (built by local artist Steve Spurgeon of Pink Dog Creative) in the space, and over the course of a month will paint an abstract mural to act as a backdrop for a dance piece that Garth Grimball will choreograph.

Garth's piece will involve fifteen or so dancers from various companies and studios throughout Asheville and the surrounding areas. His choreography will draw inspiration from Jerome Robbins' "Jazz Opus," as well as specifically from Molly's mural and an original score composed by local musician Michael Libramento. The score will be played live during the performance.

The overall themes for this project are Springtime, rites of passage, and the reemergence of life and color that are associated with the season. Springtime by nature is a celebration, and this project seeks to channel that energy into an art event that the whole community can experience. The colors will be vibrant, the movements will be lively, the music will be fresh. We want this project to be an occasion to explore and share in the vitality of the season.

We already have incredible support from RiverLink, Arts2People, Asheville Mural Project, and Asheville Ballet. What we need now is your help to fund the cost of paint, painting equipment, materials to construct the panels, costumes and shoes for dancers, and publicity so we can get the word of this project out to as many people as possible.

We have so much passion for this project, and we relish the opportunity to bring more public art and collaboration into our community. Please help us bring this idea to life!

Helpful links

RiverLink: http://www.riverlink.org

Arts2People: http://www.arts2people.org

Asheville Mural Project: http://www.arts2people.org/amp.html

Asheville Ballet: http://www.ashevilleballet.com

River Arts District: http://www.riverartsdistrict.com

Bios

Garth Grimball, a graduate of UNC-Asheville, is a dancer and choreographer with the Asheville Ballet. His work has been featured at the North Carolina Dance Festival, The North Carolina Dance Alliance and Choreographer's Showcase, and he recently produced his first full-length ballet at NC Stage Company in Asheville.

Molly Rose Freeman is a graduate of both UNC-Asheville and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Visual Arts program. She is an artist at Roots Studios in the River Arts District and, most recently, collaborated on a mural in association with Art Basel: Miami Beach 2010. Check out Molly's website here.

Michael Libramento, also a graduate of UNC-Asheville, is a musician who has played with acts like Ice Cream, Floating Action, The Generationals, Jar-e, Angi West, Jonathan Scales, Cary Fridley, Mind vs. Target, Moses Atwood, and many, many more.