Carey Christie of Seattle

Independent Project, Volunteer Park, Seattle, WA, July 2017

I was the lead producer and one of many dancers of this large-scale performance bringing together more than 40 local artists in matching bathing suits who joyously danced out a synchronized water ballet on land, in a kiddie pool.

This was a single performance requested, designed and directed by Briar Bates during the several months after her terminal cancer diagnosis. My job was mostly to develop the project plan, help to manage the “budget” which was all donated by friends, and to recruit, organize and motivate what amounted to roughly five dozen volunteers, all told, for a one-time incredibly silly dance recital inspired by a Barbie doll chandelier.

Lead creatives on the project were:

Briar Bates, Director

Meishan Bettendorf, Choreographer and Lead Dancer

Katrina van Hess, Costumer

Carey Christie, Producer

Brianna Camarda, Music

With deep support and involvement from dozens more artists and friends in our community, we scouted locations, sourced fabric, recruited dancers, and meticulously conformed to instruction. Briar asked us to make this work with her and we launched immediately with the hope of performing Ankle Deep Water Ballet before she died. We didn’t make it in time.

It’s still weirdly hard to write about this, but it’s also one of my favorite and probably most impactful creative collaborations. The Seattle Times heard of our plans to stage a takeover of the kiddie pool at Volunteer Park and their short documentary about the project doesn’t get everything exactly right, but it tells the story beautifully.

Less than a year after the Times published their story, the video had more than a million views and hundreds of comments from people who were deeply touched by Briar’s vision and the crazy community who brought it to life. I hope you’ll take the time to watch the documentary and the full water ballet performance.

As reported by the Seattle Times.