When making a list of things that come to mind when thinking of Milwaukee in summertime, many-a Milwaukeean would make sure to include Milwaukee County parks, live music performances taking place outdoors, and the iconic swan paddle boats that take residence in the Veterans Park lagoon during the city’s brief blip of warm weather. Next month, all three of those things will come together when a unique artistic undertaking utilizes the boats as they’ve never been used before.
On Sunday, August 30, SWANS will bring a varied performance to the park’s lagoon that’s free and open to the public. With SWANS, composer Lia Kohl and visual artist Jess Bass (in partnership with the Out There experimental music organization) aspire to “bring art and performance to people in an accessible and non-institutional setting.” During this performance, the swan boats will serve as a six-piece mobile stage of sorts.
The performance—which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.—will include a saxophone sextet, with each musician playing arrangements “inspired by the calls of trumpeter swans” from the back of one of six boats floating around the lagoon in choreographed formations said to be inspired by flight and swimming patterns of swans. Each boat will also feature dancers waving winged sculptures.
Performers include a wide range of Milwaukee- and Chicago-based dancers and musicians. Dancers participating in SWANS include Amanda Maraist, Angela Frederick, Ayako Kato, Graciela Gonzalez, Hattie Grimm, Maggie Seer, Nicole Spence, Saoirse Ahumada Furin, Tuli Bera, and Zoe Mei Glise. The saxophonists involved will be Gerrit Hatcher, Fred Jackson Jr., Molly Jones, Luc Mosley, Sen Morimoto, and Mai Sugimoto.
If you wish to see a saxophone sextet performing avian-inspired compositions aboard a small fleet of swan-shaped paddle boats floating in choreographed patterns, the SWANS show might be your only chance. So get to the Veterans Park lagoon on Sunday, August 30!
