Popular dance performance returns

AUSTIN (KXAN) - In September 2009, Allison Orr figured her Forklift Danceworks Company performance of “The Trash Project” would draw a few hundred people to a bare tarmac on the edge of what used to be Austin’s airport.

To be on the safe side, she had crews set up enough bleacher seating for 700 folks.

Despite a heavy downpour that hit the tarmac just before the scheduled performance time, those 700 showed up and a then some, quite a lot of some, in fact. Orr’s crews scrambled to find room for what turned out to be an additional 1,300 eager fans and that didn’t even count the 500 disappointed people who saw the gate close in front of them.

As darkness fell and the first of a fleet of city of Austin Solid Waste Services garbage trucks rolled onto to the tarmac, a light drizzle coated the pavement, reflecting the lights from the trucks and creating an eerie, fairyland-like vision for the rain coat and umbrella wielding audience members.

“I don't think I was alone in just tears coming to my eyes as the trucks rolled out,” said Orr. "It was just really an emotional experience for me; they were so majestic as they were coming out.”

The trucks criss-crossed the tarmac, weaving in and out, stopping and starting again in formation as glorious music soared above the scene. Solid waste services employees descended from the vehicles in unison, operating machines that grabbed huge trash cans and lifted them atop the trucks in time with the music.

Other employees operated overhead booms used to pick up barrels, swinging the booms round and round like waltzing dancers.

When the performance ended crowd members clamored to their feet, roaring, shouting and applauding in an extended ovation as the director and her performers first bowed and then joined together in a vigorous group hug.

The response was heartening for Orr because she first conceived "The Trash Project" as a work of art, yes, but as something more, as well.

“Really, it was because I would get to work with these machines,” she laughed, and then growing more serious. “And with these people who work with these machines. Certainly, there was an undercurrent of could I do something to destroy the stereotype about who your trash man is? Could I build a more human and complete picture of the folks who do this job? Could I get to know them?

“Part of it was for me personally. I wanted to know who are the guys who come down my street, the men and the women who come down my street and do this job for me. But really, at first, it was about the art; it was about making a dance that I couldn't make any other way.”

When the performance ended, Orr went home and as she lay in her bed, she noticed a thought slipping into her mind.

“'Well, we just have to do it again,” it announced. “I mean, we just have to do it again. You can't just do something like that only once.”

So at 7:30 Saturday and Sunday nights, August 27 and 28, the show will return to that same tarmac. Things will be more organized this time. Firefighters and police officers will be on hand to ensure safety. No one will have to sit on the ground or stand behind others who are blocking the view. There will be bleacher seats for 2,000 people each evening.

All of those people will have advance reservations and no one who does not have a reservation will be allowed onto the tarmac.

If reading this makes you want to be part of the audience, the news is not good.

"Believe it or not, we sold out of reservations in eight days,” said Orr. "So I think we could easily fill 5,000 people a night.”

Could the project return in the future? Not likely. It seems plans call for a restaurant to be constructed soon on the site and Orr knows of no other suitable place in the city that might host such an event.

So this year’s edition of the project will be especially meaningful for her and for the solid waste services employees who have gone overboard to learn their moves.

“The way it works with Solid Wastes Services is they're donating to the project, the guys' time,” Orr said as she took a break from supervising a rehearsal this week. “They have to be on the clock to operate the machinery.

“So what these guys did today is they worked extra hard to get their routes done, to get the trash picked up. And now they're practicing with me for about a half an hour; I'm giving them lunch and then they're going back out on the routes to pick up the rest of the trash.”

It is a tough schedule but the participants are happy to make it work, especially those who were part of the 2009 performance.

"I know it boosted up my morale and my children enjoyed it,” said employee Ray Showels.

“It felt great knowing that we did something good out there for everybody,” agreed fellow employee Adam Valdez. “It felt really good."

As far as Orr is concerned, the whole process was transformational for everyone involved.

"I think for the people watching it, I definitely think [it transformed] their appreciation and their understanding of the solid waste employees and