‘Swans’ Brings Grace, Whimsy and Wonder to Veterans Park Lagoon

The performance will feature dancers and musicians aboard six of the lagoon’s swan boats, moving in choreographed formations along the water.

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Dance

Grace, whimsy and wonder come together with Swans, an outdoor art performance of music and movement taking place this Sunday, August 30 at the Veterans Park lagoon. A collaboration between composer Lia Kohl and visual artist Jess Bass, the performance will feature dancers and musicians aboard six of the lagoon’s swan boats, moving in choreographed formations along the water. Part of the Out There music and art series, Swans kicks off at 2 p.m. and is free to the public.

Twelve dancers and six saxophonists from Milwaukee and Chicago are participating in Swans. The music is inspired by calls of the trumpeter swan—the heaviest living bird native to North America—while the dancers’ movements mimic the birds’ flight and swimming patterns as they wave wing sculptures. “It’s a playful nod to the boats’ natural counterparts,” Kohl explains about the piece. “Making art that is free, public and accessible to everyone is really important to Jess and I; we both believe that taking art out of institutional or conventional settings can surprise and delight people into interacting with art that they might not otherwise see or hear.”

Kohl and Bass are neighbors in Chicago and live down the street from the Humboldt Park lagoon, where swan boats are available to rent much like Milwaukee’s Veterans Park. Kohl notes, “We both make work that combines serious artmaking with a sense of play and wonder—Jess is a sculptor and visual artist and I am a composer and sound artist—and we each draw inspiration from the world around us, searching for beauty in everyday life.”

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Dancers performing in Swans, some of whom are involved with local company Wild Space Dance, are Amanda Maraist, Angela Frederick, Ayako Kato, Graciela Gonzalez, Hattie Grimm, Maggie Seer, Nicole Spence, Saoirse Ahumada Furin, Tuli Bera and Zoe Mei Glise. The musicians are Gerrit Hatcher, Fred Jackson Jr., Molly Jones, Luc Mosley, Sen Morimoto and Mai Sugimoto. “This is a pretty unconventional project, so we knew that if artists said yes, they were open to something new and experimental,” Kohl affirms. “Everyone who is involved has been so wonderful to work with.”