Performative Pop-ups Gives a Pop of Color

Last weekend, the city of Ventura hosted its annual Artwalk on Main Street and the surrounding downtown plazas. The event included dozens of colorful artist booths of all sorts, live music, and a handful of dance performances, including Olivia Mia Orozco’s site-specific performance of Arból de la Vida. Orozco’s company, Performative Pop-ups, celebrates the unique beauty of various sites and locations as seen through Orozco’s artistic eye for both movement and color.

The afternoon performance started at the fountain in front of Ventura’s historic San Buenaventura Mission. In recent years, Main Street has become a pedestrian zone, offering a perfect location for a public dance event. The street is painted with colorful artwork, reflecting the rich Mexican history of the region. Soloist Hannah Rios began the performance with an improvised solo, wearing a colorful teal and red dress with matching bright eyeshadow. The circular shape of the artwork provided a space for Rios to move with sweeping arcs, turns, and extensions that lifted the eye toward the beautiful white bell tower of the mission. The piece continued with Rios drawing the crowd down Figueroa Plaza, along a beautifully tiled waterway that flows from one fountain to the next. In an alcove, we discovered the second performer, Melanie Bizzoco, wearing a long floral skirt, colorful top, and an orange scarf draped from her wrist. Bizzoco began her improvised solo in front of the picturesque doorway with simple arcing arm gestures before springing into action with a series of traveling pathways, joyous battements, and athletic energy.

The two dancers then joined together for a final choreographed segment that traveled along the waterway to the second fountain. The unison phrase moved along the flowing water feature and produced a sense of progression through time and space, fitting the historical site and its contemporary life of color. The dance culminated at the second fountain, with the dancers sitting, standing, and circling the fountain before a final connection in the adjoining desert garden. It concluded with the dancers retreating from each other with outstretched arms. The final image was filled with sweetness and hope as they went their separate ways.

The event lasted approximately 20 minutes and was the perfect length for such an outdoor standing event. The temperate coastal weather was lovely, and the festive Artwalk atmosphere contributed to the energy of the performance. Orozco’s sense of color and shape always stands out in her work, and in this case, it highlighted the beauty of the downtown area with vibrance and harmony. The young dancers were similar in stature and color but differed in movement quality and costuming, which established a nice balance between contrast and continuity in the work. I deeply appreciated the moment with one dancer moving near the fountain and the other poised in an arched doorway. Orozco’s acute sense of near and far, foreground and background, connection and space resonated most clearly in that moment.

Overall, the dance event was a treat, and Orozco deserves many kudos for coordinating site-specific dance, which is nearly always a challenge due to the formal and informal logistics of working in public spaces. The pairing of dance with the Artwalk was a natural fit. However, I know this work was staged earlier in the summer as a stand-alone performance, and I am disappointed to have missed it, as I imagine the tone would feel different without the line of booths on the side. Nevertheless, the beauty of the space was not lost, and if anything, the dance brought additional attention to the art of the area—from the Mission structure to the fountain tile work and the coastal desert landscaping.

The city of Ventura is wonderfully beautiful, with many historical highlights dating back to Chumash origins. I hope to see the city of Ventura continue to foster dance in public spaces as a vehicle for reconnecting with the community and reviving its spirit through the celebration of both historical and contemporary culture.