EARTH CELEBRATIONS: 4^th ANNUAL HUDSON RIVER PAGEANT

ECOLOGICAL ART EVENT FEATURING PARADE OF GIANT PUPPETS

& SPECTACULAR COSTUMES WITH 13 SITE SPECIFIC PERFORMANCES

On Saturday, May 12, 2012 1-5pm (raindate: Sunday, May 13), Earth Celebrations launches its 4th annual Earth Celebrations’ Hudson River Pageant. The ecological parade and performance art event is directed by theatrical pageant director, Felicia Young, Founder/Director of Earth Celebrations, a non-profit environmental arts organization and creator of the Procession to Save Our Gardens for 15 years in theEast Village.

 The Hudson River Pageant features a magnificent parade of giant 15-foot river species puppets, spectacular costumes representing oysters, seahorses, blue crabs, wetlands, and over 70 species of local fish. Starting at 1pm, the river species will dance their way from 6 River Terrace/Irish Hunger Memorial  (Murray Street and the Hudson River / Rockefeller Park) along the waterfront to Horatio Street in the Hudson River Park. Music, dance, performances, songs, and poetry highlighting the river and its’ species, habitats, and issues include an Oyster Planting, Live Fish Release, River Cleansing, and Boat Dance with costumed kayaks, rowboats, and paddle boards. The performances are presented at the various piers and significant sites along the parade route, in the downtown portion of the Hudson River Park from 1-5pm.

HUDSON RIVER PAGEANT HIGHLIGHTS:

13 site-specific performances at piers and significant locations along the route in the Hudson River Park include:

1:00pm:             Parade Start – Honoring of the Lenape Indians and Stewards –

Irish                                     Hunger Memorial in Battery Park City Park at Vesey Street (PHOTO                                     OPPORTUNITY)

1:30pm:            Hudson River Poem & Movement of the Estuary – Rockefeller Park in                                     Battery Park City Park @ Murray St.

2:00pm:             Historic Steamship River Songs – Lilac Steamship @ Pier 25 between                                     Franklin & N. Moore St.

2:15pm:            Dance of the River Grass – Hudson River Park between Laight & Vestry St.

2:30pm:             Tributary River Dance – Pier 32 Pile Field-Watts St. –in the Hudson River Park

2:40pm:             Paddle Board Dance – South Side Pier 40-below Houston St.

2:45pm:            Water Dance – Canal St. in Hudson River Park

3:15pm:             Henry Hudson’s Solar Steamship – Queen of Hearts Boat @ Leroy St. in Hudson River Park

3:30pm:            Oyster Planting Ceremony & Dance – Christopher St. Pier in the Hudson River Park

3:45pm:            Taming of the Trash Tricksters & River Cleansing – Bow Notch semi-circle bridge @ 10^th st.

4:00pm:             Live Fish Release – Charles St. Pier in the Hudson River Park

4:15pm:            River Rap – Semi-Circle bridge/grass amphitheater @ Bank St. in the Hudson River Park

4:30pm:            Boat Dance & Harmonic Chant Concert – Horatio St. btw. Water Playground @ Jane St. & Ganesvoort St. Pier in the Hudson River Park                                                     (PHOTO OPPORTUNITY) 

Featured performers: David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir (Harmonic Chant Concert), Alice Farley Dance Theater (Boat Dance), Lynn Needle and Kent Lindemer with Art of Motion (Dance), Joule L’Adara, Rina Rinkewich, Haale Gafori, Church St. School Children’s Choir, Simone Coonrod (Grass Skirt Dance), Martha Eddy (Global Water Dance), Kaeshi Chai (PURE), The Puppeteers Cooperative, Grumbling Gryphons, Kristin Hoffman (Song for the Ocean), Drew Vanderburg, Poets House, Silver Cloud Singers (Lenape Native American Dance), Manhattan Samba (parade band), Kalunga Neg Mawon (Afro-Dominican parade band).

The highlight finale of the pageant is the spectacular Boat Dance & Harmonic Chant Concert at 4:30pm at Horatio Street in the Hudson River Park (bet. the Gansevoort Street Pier and Water Playground at Jane St.) The closing ceremony combines on-the-river boat choreography by the Bessie award-winning choreographer Alice Farley, and renowned composer-singer David Hykes and the over-the-river concert of “River to Ocean” with The Harmonic Choir.  The choreography includes 30-foot rowboats and costumed kayaks festooned with spectacular marine-life sculptures, performing a dance movement on the water. Boat participants include: Village Community Boat House, The NY Harbor School, and individual kayakers.

Participating Partners:  ACA Galleries, Association of Yale Alumni, Asphalt Green, Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, Boys and Girls Republic, BuildOn, Church Street School for Music & Art, Clearwater, Difrent, Climate Wise Women, Floating the Apple, Friends of Hudson River Park, Gala Institute, Greenpeace, Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Arts Center, The Hudson River Park Trust, Lilac Preservation Project, Lower East Side Ecology Center, Manhattan Youth Downtown Community Center, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, The New School, New York Harbor School, New York Kayak Company, New York University, NY Cares, One Brick, Panda Scouts, Poets House, Project ORE, PS41, Riverkeeper, River Project, Salsberg Group, Solar One, St. Vincent Ferrer High School, Stuyvesant High School, Village Community Boathouse, We, the World.

EARTH CELEBRATIONS: Earth Celebrations was founded in 1991 by theatrical pageant director Felicia Young, as a not-for-profit 501c3 organization in New York City, dedicated to fostering ecological awareness and reviving the arts at the center of community life. Earth Celebrations innovative environmental and arts programs address climate change, river, species, and habitat restoration, and the preservation of community gardens parks and a healthy urban environment in New York City. Programs include: theatrical pageants, exhibitions, performances, art & ecology/puppet & costume workshops, internships, artist residencies, and partnerships with schools, community centers, and gardens. For 15 years Earth Celebrations produced the popular Rites of Spring: Garden Pageant and Winter Pageant on the Lower East Side, which engaged over 5,000 participants annually, and led to the preservation of many of the community gardens on the Lower East Side and throughout New York City. In 2009, Earth Celebrations launched the River Restoration Project to engage youth and community to restore the Hudson River native species and habitats and address climate change.

CONTACT: FOR MORE INFORMATION:  CALL: (212) 777-7969

WEB: www.earthcelebrations.com   EMAIL:mail@earthcelebrations.com

BOAT DANCE WITH COSTUMED 30 FOOT ROWBOATS AND KAYAKS
Photo Credit: David Chmura

(Source: onesourceresource.com)