Episode 16: Forklift Dance: Seeing the Beauty in Everyday Work and Sparking Change Through Creative Collaboration (Part 2 of 2) with Allison Orr
In Part 2 of this two-part episode, Jessica continues her conversation with Allison Orr, Founder and Artistic Director of Forklift Danceworks, exploring how Allison and her collaborators have expanded their work to engage a broader spectrum of people and places, address environmental challenges, and use performance to spark longer-term, community-led change.
The conversation begins with Way of Water, an ambitious partnership with the City of Austin and Austin Water that brings the often-invisible work of water utility employees into the spotlight while exploring our relationship with one of our most essential natural resources. Through movement, music, original poetry, and extraordinary visual effects, Allison and her collaborators create a performance that reveals the skill, teamwork, and beauty in everyday work. Scott Morrow, an Austin Water employee who participated in the production, reflects on the experience and its impact.
The episode then turns to Forklift's place-based performances, beginning with Downs Field, a historic baseball field in East Austin. Lisa Byrd, a community organizer who developed Six Square, Austin's Black Cultural Heritage District, invited Allison to collaborate on a project celebrating the field's rich history and cultural significance. The project also marked an important evolution in Allison's thinking: performances could do more than celebrate a community's stories and traditions—they could help spark change that continues long after the performance ends.
That idea comes into even sharper focus with Givens Swims, a project centered on a beloved public swimming pool and the generations of East Austin residents who gathered there. Community members shared their histories and helped shape which stories would be told, including the story of Dr. Pearl Cox and the Miss East Austin beauty pageants once held at the pool. The resulting performance celebrated the pool's historical and cultural significance while helping build understanding across a changing neighborhood. Steven Brown, a longtime community advocate and participant in the project, shares his perspective on what Forklift got right and the longer-term impact on Givens and the surrounding community.
Throughout the conversation, Allison reflects on what these projects have taught her about creativity, collaboration, and trust—including the importance of giving projects and relationships the time they need, and why she now thinks as carefully about how she exits a community as how she enters it.
Part 2 ultimately invites us to pay closer attention—not only to the people whose work sustains our communities, but also to the histories, traditions, and relationships that define them—and to consider how curiosity, creativity, and collaboration can help shape a better future.
