This past summer, English R&B singer FKA twigs came to Baltimore to perform at Pier Six Pavilion. During her stay, she connected with hundreds of Baltimoreans on a personal artistic level by offering a free dance workshop in Hollins Market the day before. The whole experience was chronicled in a new documentary called “Baltimore Dance Workshop” released today.
Twigs put out the film about the event at Lithuanian Hall in partnership with file-sharing service WeTransfer. She announced the gathering just one day before on Twitter, but despite the short notice (and the sweltering July heat), around 400 people showed up to dance alongside her and several collaborators for five hours.
Based on the documentary, it seems Baltimore’s dancers and twigs alike took a lot away from the experience. “I found myself in a position where I can remind people to stand really tall and say you’re incredible,” she said in a story posted with the video. “Everyone in that room, we are all connected now, we all had that experience, and for the rest of time what we made that day went up into the universe.”
Twigs famously picked some of dancers from the workshop to join her onstage the next night at the Inner Harbor. We would guess that they were chosen simply because they were the best ones in the room, but twigs said also based her picks on the connections she made with them, their good attitudes and their ability to improve throughout the course of the day.
Evidently, Charm City made a lasting impression on the artist, as evidenced by the warm feelings she expresses about the whole experience in the documentary. “Baltimore is way bigger than I am and will ever be. The legend of Baltimore, every single thing it’s been through, every single person who was born there, that left, that came back, that went into the world, that spread their Baltimore energies wherever they went, that is way bigger,” she said.
in july we spent a few days in baltimore and this is what we made…amazing city, amazing community…https://t.co/nB5gn4EC51
— FKA twigs (@FKAtwigs) December 7, 2016
Watch the whole documentary here.
Ethan McLeod
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