Maybe you haven’t been sitting around wondering, Gee, I wonder what’s going on with Atelotorque? Listen, though, kind of a LOT has been going on with us, so possibly you should be. Tawnya has been gently prodding me to write up the details of our journey over the last year* and I keep saying, Yeah… that’s a good idea, I will. But life and chaos and alllllll the things got in the way. It’s ok, though. I’m here to give you a little catch up.
If you’re here at our blog, you probably know we produced our first show, Transmission, back in April of this year. That show was where we developed our “Community Show” theme and recognized its importance in the core mission of our organization. Basically, to us, a Community Show is one in which we invite all members of our local aerial community to submit pieces based around a central concept we’ve developed, in order to create a cohesive work that showcases many diverse voices. We want to give the performers and artists who make up our aerial community a platform to tell their own stories.
Transmission was, by all accounts, a huge success. We had zero budget, a raging pandemic, a cast of 30, and were brand new to the producer game, but let me tell you, we could not be more proud of the end result. It was a brilliant sculpture you’d never have guessed was composed completely of sticks and dirt and glue. Our cast and their pieces were fantastic. All of the people who helped and volunteered were amazing. It was absolutely thrilling to see it all come together. We learned LOTS of things during that undertaking, but I feel like the most important ones are:
- The four of us (Amy, Elizabeth, Lindsay, and Tawnya) are an excellent team. We’re all dependable. We don’t melt down or scream at each other during high stress. We all work hard. We contribute to each others’ creativity. We are greater than the sum of our parts.
- Tawnya is a logistical genius. If she tells you something’s gonna take 3.5 hours and you’ll need four rehearsals, you can take that shit to the bank.
- Everything costs more than we think it will.
- You cannot trust or plan for the chaos of wind in an outdoor setting.
- There is no greater reward than the excitement and joy of building a thing out of nothing for your friends (old and brand new) to proudly showcase their beautiful work from.
When Transmission was over, we didn’t know exactly what we wanted to do next, or when. We did know we’d found both a particular shared vision for how we want our organization to contribute to the world, and that we have a lovely and useful chemistry as a team. I, in particular, gained the confidence that we can pull shit off. If we could make magic out of the resources we had available for Transmission? Well then. The world is our oyster.
Come back for Part 2 – Opportunity Comes Knocking, tomorrow…
*This is Elizabeth, by the way. I’m the blogger voice you’ll usually read.