The Bandstand in the Park

1. Salsa class on a Saturday evening in the sunlight, 28th August. 2020. Spontaneous? Official? Clandestine? Who cares?

2. And now there’s this... Nice and peaceful on a Sunday morning! 29th August

3. And then a few hours later there was live music and dancing. Sunday afternoon. 29th August

4. And now it’s the bird's turn at the bandstand. Monday morning. 30th August

The bandstand, usually scheduled, is slowly coming to life by itself...

A friend liked my band stand ‘project’. I said it’s not a project it’s just what happened to be there. Today there is nothing happening. Last weekend in August there was something happening so I filmed it.

I have walked past there many times since, thinking, I should add to my 'project', but not a lot has been happening there- maybe I've just missed it!

Its so elusive where spontaneity erupts and you try to capture what happens and turn it into a 'project' ( Sep 17). Where does ownership start?

Would the events at the bandstand have happened anyway if I hadn’t been witnessing and documenting? Yes of course, for me to claim ownership in anyway is ridiculous; I didn’t know anyone involved. I just watched. I didn’t direct the outcome.

If there is any emotional resonance it is that it happened at a time when I was coping with difficulty of a very intense relationship and as I sat on that park bench I was marvelling at the life and joy emerging like green shoots emerging after the disaster of lockdown, and little old me obsessing self-pityingly with my own drama I remember a Puerto Rican friends' undimmable optimism after Hurricane Maria had devastated the island, how green shoots of recovery emerged through the cracks so soon after the disaster had happened and everyone was traumatised by the death and destruction around them.

Okay so maybe this bandstand thing is a 'project.'

5. Solo Dancer on Monday afternoon. 30th August