Anne Zuerner and I went out to Mill Basin to look for wrecked boats.
Anne is a choreographer and the movements that she works with sometimes relate to boating and the sea.
She grew up in Rhode Island, and she thinks that her love for dance originated in the hours she spent in the ocean as a kid.
It was a beautiful day but the wind was gusting across the bay.
At one point we struggled to keep the boat away from a seawall on the northern tip of Barren Island.
Once past the seawall, we landed and continued on by foot.
We walked through a network of wrecked docks and piers.
I think that Hurricane Irene came through here last summer and took anything that wasn’t tied down.
It even took some stuff that was tied down.
We dragged the boat along the bank,
and left it under the Belt Parkway.
Whenever I drive over this bridge, I look down here and wonder about all the boats and junk washed up in the grass.
Now I was getting a closer look.
This shore seemed to attract large, light forms of molded plastic.
There was even something in that category that I could use back home!
We crossed the bay and headed to the other shore.
We were being pushed by the wind, and it was nice to relax and watch the shore pass by.
This beach is used by an equestrian club, and as a group of riders passed, they encouraged us to get off the beach.
Back out in the bay, Anne noticed something unusual about the surface of the water.
It was hard to see at first, but we were moving through a giant school of fish.
They were each about 10 inches long, and the surface of the water seemed to bristle as their little dorsal fins moved in unison around the boat.
That gave Anne an idea.
We pulled the boat out of the water,
and headed to Riis Beach for a swim in the ocean.
Anne wanted to work on some ideas for a dance that could be performed in the water, and she asked if I would videotape her so she could watch it later.
The dance was beautiful. If you want to see the finished piece, and other work by Anne Zuerner, you will have to go to the Fleet Moves Dance Festival in Wellfleet Massachusetts next week!
We had one more stop to make before we left the beach;
a special tour of the Marina 59 Boatel,
with Orien Mcneill.
He showed us the many boats that make up the Boatel,
each one designed by a different artist,
like this beautifully serene aft cabin by Kelly Bowman.
Orien told us his plans for an event to end all events, a flotilla of disastrous proportions; The Battle Atoll.
We saw the “Chemical Reaction”, a floating lab of bay specimens, where the gang hangs out to plot and plan.
We admired the intricate driftwood workings of Orien himself.
We even met a small cat who has only once set foot on dry land.
Actually, there was ONE more stop we had to make,
a well deserved meal at Jordan’s Lobster.
↑ Return to Top of Page ↑