Once upon a time in '08, a cluster of three low-rise 19th century buildings stood, or rather held out, on the southeast corner of 8th Avenue and 26th Street -- sole survivors of earlier demolitions that had created an adjacent parking lot.
Then, in early August, a crew -- part Jamaican, part Latino -- began to wreck them. Though the demolition men routinely took what looked to be extraordinary risks, they operated with great care and precision. I documented their process over the nearly three weeks it took to do the job, and never saw an EMS van called to the site.
It struck me that the men wrecking the buildings were -- at least metaphorically -- descendants of the skilled workers who had built them.
The music is "Bear Reel," composed and recorded in 1985 and incorporated into my score for "Oranges," choreographed by Diane Jacobowitz and performed at Dance Theater Workshop.