Forklift Danceworks

Led by Artistic Director and Founder Allison Orr, Forklift Danceworks celebrates the extraordinary in the ordinary by creating original performances inspired by the movement of everyday life. By engaging a diverse body of participants and audience through its performances, outreach programs, classes, and workshops, the company empowers all people to be actively engaged in the creative process.

Forklift has presented over 20 community-based dances, including performances by City of Austin sanitation workers, City of Austin firefighters, Venetian gondoliers, guide dogs and their owners, Austin Symphony Conductor Peter Bay, linemen and electrical technicians from Austin Energy, and most recently members of the The Japanese Women’s Baseball League. Forklift challenges audiences to expand notions of dance and performer while posing the question: who and what can be presented on stage? Uncovering that which is essential to the life of a community but often goes unnoticed is central in the company’s dances, as Forklift seeks to give voice to people who may be marginalized or frequently overlooked.

The Company has garnered national attention with support from the prestigious MAP Fund and The NEA and features in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Dance Magazine, Texas Monthly, and NPR. Allison Orr has three times been named the year’s most outstanding choreographer by The Austin Critics Table and in 2012 The Austin Chronicle named her the city’s “Best Movement Illuminator.”

Support for The Trees of Govalle comes from the City of Austin/Cultural Arts Division, Texas Commission on the Arts, and numerous individual donors.