The project Passenger is part of the nationwide initiative to create awareness of the extinction of the passenger pigeon. The project was founded by Joel Greenberg. Shana Simmons became a part of the project and choreographed a piece that was performed at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The passenger pigeon was once the most abundant bird in North America. This bird became extinct by 1914, mainly due to it being a main food source of this time period. Several of the passenger pigeons were rescued and put into captivity, but at this time the idea of breeding in captivity was not yet thought of.
Shana Simmons’ dance production of Passenger was about thirty to forty minutes long. The dancers showed immense talent by not only memorizing, but also mastering about thirty minutes of straight choreography. The dance production showed a series of pigeon phases, focusing on bird beauty, bird behavior- including the mating process, and the process of death. The concept of bird behavior was extremely well mastered by the dancers. The costumes accentuated the fact that the dancers were preforming as passenger pigeons. The tones and colors of the costumes along with the small accents of feathers helped fulfill this vision. The quirky movements of the dancers also helped portray the concept of the behavior of the passenger pigeon.
The portion of the dance that exemplified the pigeon mating process was creatively done. A male performer played the male pigeon, while the other female performers were seen clucking and chattering about him. The actual mating part of the dance was shown through a series of lifts between the male performer and a female performer. A quote taken from Joel Greenberg’s book was used during this portion to explain the process.
The final scene of the dance production focused on the death of the passenger pigeons. The last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914, her name was Martha. The dance production showed the death of Martha and also used the use of rose petals, red lights, and the voice of a very talented singer to show the death of the pigeons.
After the dance production, the audience members were allowed to wander through the aviary displays. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the night! The National Aviary, formally known as the Pittsburgh Aviary, holds 500 birds of multiple varieties. The aviary features several free flight exhibits, which allow the birds to fly around. Birds like toucans, penguins, bald eagles, and canaries are available to be seen at this aviary! While walking through the exhibits the dancer were preforming solos as well, this created even more for the audience to see.
A nice ending touch to the evening was the question and answer part. Right around nine the dancers, composer, singer, and producer Shana Simmons gathered around and allowed the audience to ask any questions they might have. This created an intimate ending to a very pleasurable experience!
All in all, I not only learned a lot about passenger pigeons, but I also thoroughly enjoyed my time at the aviary. This was a nice event that added some spice to my weekend! It was extremely enjoyable to partake in an activity that was different than my normal weekend activities.