2005
Breaking Ground: A Dance Charrette
New York City
Breaking Ground: A Dance Charrette, produced by Dancing in the Streets and directed by Joanna Haigood, is a multi-year urban voyage to the far corners of New York City that invites choreographers and audiences to explore new ways of making and viewing dance while exploring compelling New York City sites and the stories they tell.

Coined in the 1800s, the term "charrette" originally referred to an intensive course for architectural students in Paris, who were given 72 hours to solve a complex design problem and then place their plans in carts ("charrettes") and rush them to the Ecole des Beaux Arts.

The dance charrette was conceived by Joanna Haigood as an invigorating exercise for choreographers, challenging them to create a site-specific work in five days with no prior knowledge of the site, its location, characteristics or the stories it contains. The dance charrette has been held at the Tobacco Warehouse in Dumbo, Brooklyn, Fort Jay on Governor's Island and Hangar B at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn.

Choreographers/Sites: Ann Carlson, Eiko & Koma, Larry Keigwin, Tere O’Connor, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar / Tobacco Warehouse, DUMBO, Brooklyn (2005). Douglas Dunn, Noémie Lafrance, Elizabeth Streb, Reggie Wilson, and Yasuko Yokoshi / Fort Jay on Governors Island (2006). Jonah Bokaer, Tania Isaac, Stephan Koplowitz, Gus Solomons jr, and Nami Yamamoto / Hangar B at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn (2008).

“BREAKING GROUND – A Dance Charrette raised the bar for site-specific dance in this city.” --Gay City News
This project was created from 2005 to 2009