The NTC Foundation commissioned Jean Isaacs and the San Diego Dance Theater to create a walking tour of the North Promenade at Arts District Liberty Station to view six new site-specific dances inspired by existing or newly created visual art installations.
The Installation Dances, a play on the wildly popular Trolley Dances, are slated for noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14. The three tours will be led by San Diego Dance Theater’s artistic director Jean Isaacs, who created two of the dances herself.
“All the great outdoor space at the Arts District lends itself to so many creative endeavors,” said NTC Foundation executive director Alan Ziter. “Just as we have commissioned visual artists to reinterpret our campus through site-specific art installations, we’re now commissioning renowned site-specific dance creator Jean Isaacs to interpret our art installations through dance to showcase the art installations in a new, unique way.”
Choreographers include Isaacs, along with Anne Gehman, Liv Isaacs-Nollet, Zaquia Mahler Salinas, and Jessica Reed de Cancel. As with the annual Trolley Dances, exact locations are not revealed until the tour has begun to ensure a sense of discovery and surprise.
“After years of choreographing for the conventional stage, I discovered in 1999 that I am also a choreographer who responds to challenges provided by unconventional public spaces,” Isaacs said. “I respond to the play of light as it changes throughout the day; to the original intended use of the site; to the architectural elements which break up the boring rectangle to reveal smaller, perhaps circular components; stairwells, arches, cool little nooks and crannies point to a historical narrative not obvious to the casual observer. “I almost always bring the rehearsal process on site so that the work created is truly site specific. Imposing an already completed dance onto a site is never as fully satisfying as slowing down and allowing the site to speak to us so that we create in the collaborative process which engages us as dance makers as well as performers. I like to hire dancers of many ages, body types, and ethnicities so that we resemble our audiences,” Isaacs said.
The NTC Foundation, which oversees the development and operation of 26 buildings at Arts District Liberty Station, recently selected six temporary art projects as part of a new rotating program titled Installations at the Station. A special media preview of all six installations is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Installation Dances is a new feature of Installations at the Station, an on-going program of the NTC Foundation that artistically transforms the historic Naval Training Center into Arts District Liberty Station. For more information on Installations at the Station, visit libertystation.com/explore/installations-at-the-station WHAT: Installation Dances, featuring site-specific dance throughout Liberty Station.
WHEN: Noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14. Arrive early. Tours leave promptly on the hour.
WHERE: Dorothea Laub Dance Place, Liberty Station, 2650 Truxtun Road. Guided walking tours begin in the Green Room. Guests will then proceed to the North Promenade at Liberty Station. 
INFO: sandiegodancetheater.ticketleap.com/installation-dances.