Exploring Sites in Transition

Placeholders September 13th, 12 noon Long Branch, Maryland, USA

This site-specific performance/installation exploreed what it means to seek, shape and preserve “place” in the face of transition through a public, participatory event in the Silver Spring neighborhood of Long Branch. With an evocative interdisciplinary collaboration that crosses creative boundaries, architect/visual artist Ronit Eisenbach joined forces with dance artist Sharon Mansur to illuminate and celebrate Long Branch as it is today, on the cusp of change and growth. Placeholders embraced this spirit of flux through its movement, sound and architectural layers. The performance work affirmed what is essential to one’s sense of place in the face of transformation and reflected upon what it means to “hold one’s place” in anticipation of the future. A quartet of performers invited the audience on a stroll to three separate spaces within the community—the stores along Flower Avenue, the parking lot at the corner of Arliss and Flower, and the Flower Avenue Park.  In addition, artists engaged the public by inviting them to consider and share their own placeholders: objects, images, and traditions that establish their identity and sense of place. 

 

A ‘placeholder’ can be a way of marking one’s place and affirming, “I belong here. This is my place.” The American Flag placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong, or the new murals in Long Branch can be seen to have this meaning. We move and change and the places around us change, too. A ‘placeholder’ can also be a meaningful image or object that we save because it stands in for something else, perhaps another place, event, or an important person in our lives. Or a ‘placeholder’ object can be unimportant in and of itself, like a bag left on a chair that stands in for something more important, perhaps the person we are waiting for. The performance and objects we have temporarily added to Long Branch were developed and located to explore these ideas,

stimulate dialogue and frame eorts to “make place” here. We invite you to join us and to consider “place as a work in progress” and the roles we can play in arming community identity and creating meaningful places.

 

To read a review of Placeholders please visit http://m.diamondbackonline.com/diversions/arts/article

 

Artistic Directors: Ronit Eisenbach & Sharon Mansur

Installation Design: Ronit Eisenbach

Movement Design: Sharon Mansur with contributions by the performers

 

Performers: Meredith Bove, Jessie Laurita-Spanglet,

Sarah Oppenheim, Lynne Price

Sound Design: Curt Seiss with contributions by Aleksandra Vrebalov

Costume Design: Stephanie Miracle and Sharon Mansur

Audience Guides: Nava Behnam, Patty Mullaney-Loss,

Amy Scheer, Kelsie Straight, Rachel Wolfe

Guest Artists: Krista Caballero with assistants Margaret Gratian

and Sree Sinha

 

Photographer: Zachary Z. Handler

 

Stage Manager: Nelly Diaz Rodriguez

Project Managers: Ashley Grzywa, Kathryn Donahue

Design Assistants: Ashley Grzywa, Kathryn Donahue,

Adriana Mendoza, Austin Raimond

Sound Assistant: Melissa Rogers

Programming: Jonah E. Chazan

Costume Fabrication: Roxann Morgan Rowley

Installation Fabricators, Rehearsal, and Performance Assistants:

Yoel Alemeyahu, Renee Brachfeld, Pedro Camargo, Emily Childs, Natalya

Dikhanov, Matt Doeller, Kathryn Donahue, Ashley Grzywa, Emily Heller,

Charishma Hunjan, Joseph Largess, Alan Leader, Elena Lombardo, Austin

Raimond, Amy Scheer, Ronit Schorr, Valerie Sherry, Kelsie Straight,

Brittany Truske, Yumeng Wang, Celeste White

Researchers: Rafael de Balanzo, Esther Geiger, Elena Lombardo

Marketing Consultant: Ashley David

 

We wish to express our appreciation to the Long Branch Business League Leaders, Art

Cobb, Carlos Perozo, and Ada Villatoro for welcoming us to their community; to Paul

Grenier, Ilana Branda, and Edgar Alvarado of MHP for their partnership; and to Eugene

and Esther Herman, Nok Kim, and Greg Fernebok for their civic mindedness and

generosity. A special thanks to Tara Rodgers for her assistance with sound, and to Dina

Borzekowski, Todd Clark, Esther Geiger, Eugene and Esther Herman, Alvin Mayes, and

Megan Springate for loaning us their very cool red cars.

 

Placeholders was generously supported by a University of Maryland Advance Institute

Interdisciplinary and Engaged Research SEED Grant; the UMD School of Architecture,

Planning and Preservation; and the UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance

Studies. We are also grateful for the contributions of the UMD Facilities Management

Department, the UMD Women’s Studies Multimedia Studio, and Impact Silver Spring.

Presented in partnership with the Long Branch Business League, Montgomery Housing

Partnership, the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs,

and Montgomery County Department of Parks.