The Legacy Project - Our Lives of Consumption and Waste
Uprooted Dance from Mariah Miranda on Vimeo.
The Legacy Project- Our Lives of Consumption and Waste
Performance at GreenFest April 28, 2019
Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, M.D.
Created by Keira Hart-Mendoza
Dancers: Rachael Appold, Amanda Blythe, Jamie Doughty, Jordan Gehley, and Alison Talvacchio.
Costumes by Keira Hart-Mendoza and Margie Jervis
Set Design by Keira Hart-Mendoza and Margie Jervis
Music: Frank Sinatra, Marin Marias, Unckle Ho, Steve Reich, and Brian Hyland
*This project was created in partnership with Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, M.D. and with funding from the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County MD.
Dancers: Rachael Appold, Amanda Blythe, Jamie Doughty, Jordan Gehley, and Alison Talvacchio.
Costumes by Keira Hart-Mendoza and Margie Jervis
Set Design by Keira Hart-Mendoza and Margie Jervis
Music: Frank Sinatra, Marin Marias, Unckle Ho, Steve Reich, and Brian Hyland
*This project was created in partnership with Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, M.D. and with funding from the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County MD.
MORE ABOUT THE LEGACY PROJECT
Keira Hart-Mendoza, Executive and Artistic Director of UpRooted Dance, embarks on a new multilevel research performance and installation project, The Legacy Project - Our Lives of Consumption and Waste. By challenging Hart-Mendoza to collect every piece of trash she produces over the course of a year, the project aims to highlight the huge amounts of waste the average person produces and contextualize our global pollution crisis. The artist asks, “Faced with a mountain of our own trash, would we change any of our behaviors and leave a better legacy behind for generations to come?”
Her deep dive research of plastics and waste has blossomed into an enormous undertaking, with new layers of implication and meaning at each turn. From countless articles and texts on sustainability, she’s learned about the institutional and economic background of our “disposable” culture. Over the course of this research, she’s been struck by the ever-shrinking timeline for reversing humanity’s path of global pollution. More than ever, she’s convinced that time is of the essence to take a stand and make positive changes for a more sustainable future and to preserve our legacy for future generations.
However, this project also shows the creative, fun side of living more "green." UpRooted Dance specializes in crossing artistic disciplines to go beyond the stage and bring art back to the community. By ensuring all aspects of each performance include movement, costuming, set design, lighting, audience experience and more, we create multiple pathways into the work for the viewer. We show audiences how the arts can provoke accountability, curiosity, and serve to educate others about recycling and waste management. We hope this project will entertain, promote creativity and joy among audience members!
Keira Hart-Mendoza, Executive and Artistic Director of UpRooted Dance, embarks on a new multilevel research performance and installation project, The Legacy Project - Our Lives of Consumption and Waste. By challenging Hart-Mendoza to collect every piece of trash she produces over the course of a year, the project aims to highlight the huge amounts of waste the average person produces and contextualize our global pollution crisis. The artist asks, “Faced with a mountain of our own trash, would we change any of our behaviors and leave a better legacy behind for generations to come?”
Her deep dive research of plastics and waste has blossomed into an enormous undertaking, with new layers of implication and meaning at each turn. From countless articles and texts on sustainability, she’s learned about the institutional and economic background of our “disposable” culture. Over the course of this research, she’s been struck by the ever-shrinking timeline for reversing humanity’s path of global pollution. More than ever, she’s convinced that time is of the essence to take a stand and make positive changes for a more sustainable future and to preserve our legacy for future generations.
However, this project also shows the creative, fun side of living more "green." UpRooted Dance specializes in crossing artistic disciplines to go beyond the stage and bring art back to the community. By ensuring all aspects of each performance include movement, costuming, set design, lighting, audience experience and more, we create multiple pathways into the work for the viewer. We show audiences how the arts can provoke accountability, curiosity, and serve to educate others about recycling and waste management. We hope this project will entertain, promote creativity and joy among audience members!
To truly see how much waste Hart-Mendoza, as a mother of two and wife, creates over the course of a year, she has been saving her trash since July 2017 as well as composting all food scraps and yard trimmings. The shockingly rapid waste accumulation has opened her eyes to how simple changes in consumption habits greatly impact her output of waste.
From her personal waste, Hart-Mendoza and a team of designers are upcycling custom costumes and sets from the collected trash, ensuring the project is zero-waste. Hart-Mendoza is also challenging her dancers to keep a “trash journal” for the duration of the work to bring mindfulness to their own habits, informed by readings from the seminal Cradle to Cradle by McDonough and Braungart, as well as other sustainability research. The entire cast of The Legacy Project will also attend a Recycling and Waste Management Workshop in Montgomery County on December 2017, as well as future plans for community engagement and participation.
Based in Montgomery County, MD and showing work across the Washington, DC metro area, UpRooted Dance creates intersections between dance and other art forms. As Artistic Director, Hart-Mendoza collaborates with dancers, visual artists, musicians to blend technology, theater and design. UpRooted’s colorful fantasy world creates expressive, visually striking work. Movement, images, sounds, and text allow UpRooted Dance to connect to audiences through storytelling and immerse audiences deeper into the work.
UpRooted Dance's newest project reaches beyond movement art on stage. The company is embarking on a multi-year creative research project investigating environmental topics that will yield theatrical performances on- and off- stage as well as educational art workshops and written works. UpRooted Dance will be a vehicle to promote social change and conscious consumerism not only for project partners, but also among audience members and workshop participants.
From her personal waste, Hart-Mendoza and a team of designers are upcycling custom costumes and sets from the collected trash, ensuring the project is zero-waste. Hart-Mendoza is also challenging her dancers to keep a “trash journal” for the duration of the work to bring mindfulness to their own habits, informed by readings from the seminal Cradle to Cradle by McDonough and Braungart, as well as other sustainability research. The entire cast of The Legacy Project will also attend a Recycling and Waste Management Workshop in Montgomery County on December 2017, as well as future plans for community engagement and participation.
Based in Montgomery County, MD and showing work across the Washington, DC metro area, UpRooted Dance creates intersections between dance and other art forms. As Artistic Director, Hart-Mendoza collaborates with dancers, visual artists, musicians to blend technology, theater and design. UpRooted’s colorful fantasy world creates expressive, visually striking work. Movement, images, sounds, and text allow UpRooted Dance to connect to audiences through storytelling and immerse audiences deeper into the work.
UpRooted Dance's newest project reaches beyond movement art on stage. The company is embarking on a multi-year creative research project investigating environmental topics that will yield theatrical performances on- and off- stage as well as educational art workshops and written works. UpRooted Dance will be a vehicle to promote social change and conscious consumerism not only for project partners, but also among audience members and workshop participants.