Around Austin: Fusebox Festival and “The Trees of Govalle”

I think some of you know by know how much I love trees.

And if you don’t, well I FREAKING LOVE TREES.

So much so, that I devout every ounce of my painting skills to trees. I literally don’t paint anything else. I currently have a wall in my room of beautiful-ish trees, handpainted by me.

Now you might have a better understanding why I was so extremely excited when I read about the dance performance entitled “The Trees of Govalle.”

I mean, the only thing I love as much as trees is dancing.

Combine the two, and I’m jumping for joy.

It was all very serendipitous. Shortly after I read about the performance, I found out that my boyfriend’s landscape architect company helped put on the Fusebox Festival, which hosted the performance.

The Festival itself was pretty cool. They were asking for a lot of community involvement in the planning of the neighborhood, and had a lot of different booths dedicated to asking the neighborhood about the changes they wanted to see.

There were also booths dedicated to educating the community about new building resources, that are both aesthetic, and good for the environment.

Like these edible building materials.

Who knew you could build leather out of insect and fish parts? Not me.

There was, of course, a lot of interesting art.

After the festival, they led everyone through an urban forest to the area of Govalle Park where the performance was taking place.

I can’t really say enough good things about the performance “The Trees of Govalle.” It was put on by Forklift Danceworks, who created the show with the inspiration of the Austin Park crew, and the trees in our community that they help thrive every day.

From my understanding, the main source of inspiration came from this beautiful pecan tree.

The performance featured actual workers in the Parks department, choreographed to a beautiful symphony.

It was really beautiful. The choreography (Allison Orr and Krissy Marty) was magical and the music (Graham Reynolds) was entrancing.

My favorite part was a number where the cranes were choreographed to a sad song. I actually was nearly moved to trees by trucks dancing.

It was all interspersed with vignettes told by the crew about how important their work is to them, and how they make a difference every day.

This post really doesn’t do the show justice.

I’ll just say that I will never look at our parks services the same way again.

Also? I love trees even more now, if that’s possible.

Related posts:

1. Weekend Snapshots 4/10-4/12
2. Austin Bucket List: Krause Springs
3. Happy Little Trees (Just Call Me Bob Ross)
4. Around Austin: Jersey Boys at Bass Concert Hall
5. Around Austin: Once – Now Playing at the Bass Concert Hall