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A celebration event on Saturday will show off the artistic achievements made by the Workshop29 program over the last several months in Twentynine Palms.
The free event will showcase the dancing, singing, writing, and transformational sculpture makinng achieved by the participants of the Workshop29 program. Organized by the Twentynine Palms Public Arts Advisory Committee, the results of the free community workshops will be celebrated at this large scale public event.
Carolyn Pennypacker-Riggs, artist and leader of the High Desert Community Choir, says “a real good time.”
“Saturday’s event is a culmination of all four workshops coming together and sharing the art we’ve made together as a community.
“My part is a community choir that requires no audition or previous experience, and I’m actively encouraging people who think they can’t sing to join.”
Choreographer Ryan Heffington, who led a workshop on ecology explored through dance, said:
“Saturday’s performance is going to be an abbreviated version of what we did in class. Explain what entails an ecology dance workshop, and how the two fit together. and what we created with my two assistants, Kristy and Ben.
We did all the research about ecology in the desert, and we put it on our bodies. We were able to move like animals, we were able to move like insects, and we were able to show and create the symbiotic relationships between everyone and everything.”
Those that come to Saturday’s event, held at Freedom Plaza from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. will have the opportunity to participate, whether it be through singing, dancing, or mantra-making.
Heffington added, “I’m going to lead a warm up, so everyone can get into their bodies and as we warm up, we’re going to be doing the movements we’ve created for the specific animals and insects and that will start it off for the other presentations from the other workshops. “
As to the overall success of the Workshop29 program, artist Jai Knight, who led a transformative paper-making workshop, concluded by saying “It was sweet to see how the community was so open to receiving the process. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be judgment or resistance to the process, and it seems like there was a lot of openness and receptiveness and actual transformation that happened. Especially with several people in the workshop that emailed me.
“I’m grateful and honored to be able to create an experience that facilitates other people to go into their own journey of processing the things that we hold on to. I feel very supported by the Public Arts Advisory Council and their team.”
Come see the work that your community has done this Saturday at Freedom Plaza, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
