'The Quarry Project' pairs fluid dance, ancient Vermont granite
After moving from Burlington two decades ago, and once she figured out the backroad shortcuts to her new home in Chelsea, Hannah Dennison began to notice the quarries.
“I couldn’t drive by without looking, you know?” said the choreographer known for her site-specific dance pieces. “Finally, I started walking around them looking more deeply and thinking about what it would take to do a piece there.”
It’s taken many years – including a couple of years of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic – but “The Quarry Project” is about to happen. Dennison’s dance piece set in the abandoned Wells-Lamson quarry in Websterville in the town of Barre begins Monday, July 25 with publicly-staged dress rehearsals. Full performances start Friday, Aug. 5.
Dennison said she’s intrigued by the idea that a place where the land has been ravaged, stone has been destroyed and people have died extracting that stone can become filled with beauty. Abandoned quarries like the Wells-Lamson quarry fill with water and take on a stark beauty that artists such as photographer Edward Burtynsky have tapped into to lasting effect.
“I know from experience – both mine and seeing other work – that what happens is that place gets enlivened in a way that it hadn’t been before,” Dennison said, “and then it’s also thus seen differently going forward by anyone who has driven by the building or driven by the quarry or walked by the (Burlington) bike path on the waterfront.”
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‘Big stretch’ to stage dance in a quarry
The idea of staging a dance piece in a quarry “did feel like a big stretch,” according to Dennison.
“We live in a litigious society,” she said, and presenting a piece in a deep granite quarry is obviously more dangerous than other sites where Dennison has worked, such as the Lake Champlain waterfront or abandoned buildings. Creating a sense of artistic intimacy in the vast space of a quarry also presented obstacles.
“If you’re trying to span six acres of water, that challenge is pretty big to overcome,” Dennison said. “But I think we’ve done it. I think the way that we’ve created the theater, it has allowed for both the distance and the closeness.”
The 90 people attending each performance will be stationed upon a floating platform affixed to one of the granite walls of the quarry. Performances are sold out, but Dennison said there is a waiting list for people who do not have tickets. Those attending performances are asked to sign liability-release forms.
The idea of fluid dance happening among stone that’s been in place for eons appeals to Dennison.
“Being in a place like that really puts me in scale,” she said. “I try to seek out situations where I can sense my insignificance, my tininess. I’m only here for a speck of time, and this rock has been around for a long time.”
She would like those attending “The Quarry Project” to leave with similar feelings.
“I hope that they really come away with a sense of awe of the setting,” Dennison said. “It is a post-industrial site, but there is a beauty in it that is extraordinary.”
If you go
WHAT: “The Quarry Project”
WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 25-Wednesday, July 27 (dress rehearsals); 5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Sunday from Aug. 5-21, with a 3:30 p.m. performance Sunday, Aug. 7 (full performances).
WHERE: Wells-Lamson quarry, 232 Websterville Road, Barre
INFORMATION: Sold out; those without tickets can sign up for a waiting list ($10 for dress rehearsal, $30 for performances). www.thequarryproject2022.com or www.hannahdennison.org
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: 'The Quarry Project' pairs fluid dance with ancient Vermont granite