Students contribute work to website

While in residency, Yanira Castro and her collaborators conducted several profiles of individuals connected to Montgomery Hall to initiate her interactive project, The People To Come. Meeting with Tallahassee locals provided a method of exploring themes of place and community. Moreover, Castro was able to refine the web-based proposals, assignments which allow participants to help generate material for the piece. Russell Sandifer, Co-Chair of FSU’s School of Dance and Currie Leggoe, School of Dance Costumer, met with Castro, providing valuable feedback on the proposals set forth by Castro. Lifelong Tallahassee resident and FSU alumna Charlotte Williams shared her experiences as a viewer of dance in traditional venues, while offering insight on being part of a participatory project. Finally, Eddie Woodward, FSU’s Heritage Protocol Archivist, met with Castro and collaborator Kathy Couch to discuss the principles of archiving as it pertains to physical and online repositories.

The feedback and contributions from the individual profiles were collected along with that of three larger groups, two FSU classes and one group of senior community members. The classes, one with animation students and the other with movement notation students, fully engaged the proposals, offering a range of responses, as the students helped to compile material for the piece. A few members of Tallahassee’s Newcomers Club, all artists themselves, also provided some compelling contributions. The contrast between the groups offered Castro insight into how audiences might engage the website and contribute materials to the project.