Earthfall’s 2013 production, toured England and Wales and received the Wales Theatre Award for Best Small Scale Dance.
Earthfall reveal the poetry and tragicomic events from this iconic hotel and its place in contemporary culture. A voyeuristic discovery of its inhabitants’ lives, loves and longings.
Continuing on their New York journey the multi-award winning Earthfall blaze a trail from Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe to Dylan Thomas and Tennessee Williams, where several stories, true and false, interplay through radical dance, live music and film, capturing significant moments in the history of this rebel artist mecca.
The Chelsea Hotel, or Hotel Chelsea has a rich and intriguing history and is considered a famous landmark in New York City. Built in the early 1880’s as part of the ‘Hubert Home Clubs’ (housing for artists) it initially was a thriving success before the collapsing economy caused Chelsea Hotel to go bankrupt. It was later reopened in 1905 as a hotel before going bankrupt again. Reopened in 1939 the hotel blossomed as a hub of artistic creativity, housing artists and individuals from all over, some for days, others for years. Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Jeff Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Grateful Dead, Alice Cooper and countless other musicians have stayed there. Stanley Kubrick, Jonas Mekas, Dennis Hopper, Jane Fonda are some of the famous directors. Mark Twain, Arthur C Clarke, Arnold Weinstein, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Miller, Jack Kerouac, Quentin Crisp and Dylan Thomas are but a few of the notable residents.
In 2011 the hotel was sold for re-development for $80 million dollars. Since then the builders have moved in, but not all the residents have moved out. A stalemate of determined residents and frustrated builders has ensued. You can keep track of the latest developments on the resident blog Living with Legends: The Last Outpost of Bohemia. This tapestry of intertwined artistic lives is reflected in Earthfall’s blend of dance, live music and use of film.
Here are some highlights from the tour as well as the production shots in these galleries. (C) Julian Castaldi and Earthfall (C) Hugo Glendinning
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