Built on Stilts is turning 25 years old this summer.
“I’m just ecstatic that we’re able to do it again,” said Abby Bender, co-creator of the festival that settles into Union Chapel each year, turning it into an Island-wide dance hall.
Last summer the show still did go on, but only as a flash mob dance performance rather than multiple nights of performances.
“I didn’t want to let it lapse because I’m a firm believer that if you let things go then traditions can die out,” Ms. Bender said of going ahead with the abbreviated program last year.
This tradition definitely did not die out. This year Built on Stilts returns to Union Chapel for six days in August with 40 acts ranging from modern dance, belly dancing, hip hop, jazz, ballet, African and more.
As usual, all shows are free. Dates are August 12 to 14 and August 21 to 23, with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. and performances beginning at 8 p.m. There are 12 or 13 acts each evening with some, but not all, overlapping on subsequent performances.
“So, if you come on one night, you might see three or four of the same, max, the next night,” Ms. Bender said.
“It’s not curated,” she added. “The only restrictions are no nudity, no swearing, no hate speech. It’s a family show.”
The festival thrives on being inclusive, inviting everyone and anyone to perform. “It really is a range from like, total amateurs to professional work. Kids, older people, every style of dance you can imagine, pretty much anything goes,” she said.
In addition to organizing the event, Ms. Bender will perform a contemporary piece with 12 dancers, ranging in age from 20 years old to a woman in her 60s.
“This isn’t a very, what I call, a dancey dance for me because my work is usually much more sort of theatrical and comic in nature,” Ms. Bender said of the piece. “This piece for me, it’s sort of just about the joy of being able to do Built on Stilts because... as a performer there’s kind of nothing like this venue.”
Twenty five years ago, when the festival first began from an idea hatched by Ms. Bender and Anna Luckey to showcase local dancers, it was much smaller.
“There was only one show,” Ms. Bender said. “And there were just seven choreographers.”
“We just wanted to make work,” she added. “There really still isn’t any venue that presents dance on the Island except for the Yard and the Yard is not really about presenting locals. It’s about bringing in professional companies from other places. There aren’t large dance companies here. So, we thought well, we’ll self-produce.”
The rest is history.
“It’s become a tradition people really count on. I think part of it is because it’s free. I think part of it is just the open hearted-ness of it. You know that everyone is welcome.”
Audiences, with the exception of children under 5, will be required to wear a mask at all shows.
For more information, visit builtonstilts.org.
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