For skateboarders, an abundance of graffiti can be read as a signal that a space has been abandoned and left open to their wheels. Similarly, when Mette Ingvartsen first visited Powerhouse Arts — a factory-size building in Brooklyn that was built as a power plant in 1904 and then became a squat before its rebirth as an arts facility in 2023 — the spray paint preserved on the walls was a welcome sign.
Ingvartsen is a Danish choreographer whose “Skatepark” (2023) transfers the rolling action, punk energy and social coherence of skateboarders into theatrical settings. The Grand Hall of Powerhouse Arts, with more than 20,000 square feet of open space framed by exposed metal beams and graffiti-covered brick, looked like a perfect fit.
“It was almost as if it was calling for ‘Skatepark’ to be performed there,” Ingvartsen recalled on a video call from Brussels, where her company is based.
The man who brought her there, David Binder, had already been struck by the same thought. A Broadway producer who was the artistic director of the Brooklyn Academy of Music from 2019 to 2023, Binder had been invited by Powerhouse Arts to curate a performing arts festival in the building. When he first walked into the Grand Hall, what immediately came to mind, he said on a recent tour of the space, was “Skatepark,” which he had seen in Paris.
“That’s the opening show,” he recalled thinking.
And so it shall be when Powerhouse: International opens on Sept. 25, with “Skatepark.” From then until Dec. 13, a dozen more events will follow: dance, theater, music, genres both separated and mixed.
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The post An Art Factory Opens Its Dance Floor. First Up, Skateboarders. appeared first on New York Times.
