Subway Dancey Dance Dance

Dance with a capital D train.



The D train takes about ten minutes to go from Atlantic Ave. to Grand Street.

We got on at Atlantic - all 16 of us - and got right into the dance, taped from 4 different cameras during this one-time ride. Jessie Winograd - the lead dancer - choreographed the movement of the dancers and I drew up a couple basic moves for the passengers. I mostly just wanted to see the dancers moving around and freaking out either in front of oblivious passengers or through the spaces between the oblivious passengers.

The subway stopped at Dekalb where thankfully no one got on - though at 3AM we were optimistic that we wouldn't be disturbed in our travels. It stopped again in the tunnel right before the bridge and then lumbered on over the water. I'd stumbled upon this isolated public space one night coming home from a bar last year, when I lived for a short stretch on the Lower East Side.

I tried to recreate the scenario of that first discovery by staging this on a Saturday night. But heading to the train station with so many people in our party made me nervous that we'd be busted. It wasn't the case. People barely took notice of us waiting en masse for an empty subway car. At around 3am, one - mostly empty - showed up and we seized the chance. If you look on the left of screen there's a fellow sitting in blue who seems truly nonplussed by our efforts. But otherwise, we were able to dance the eff out of that subway car.

Fun Facts:

- If you look closely, two people are reading the last book in the Harry Potter series (one with a cover, one without).
- The door closing in the beginning is actually at Dekalb Ave.
- The music involves a thumb piano brought back from Uganda

Dance arranged by: Jessica Winograd

Shot by: Josh Weisbrot, Casimir Nozkowski, Ian Savage, Kayla Graffam

Music by: Greg Glassman

Passengers:

Simon Astor
Seth Berkowitz
Hannah Bos
Oliver Butler
Dan Engber
Kayla Graffam
Chris Hull
Mary Lawless
Sydney Maresca
Aram Rubenstein-Gillis
Susan Stewart