Serendipity, some say. Inspiration, say others. A feeling of belonging. Intimacy. Support. Inclusivity and openness. A magical experience. Like coming home. Unmatched and overwhelming in the best way. The bomb-diggity. There really is nothing like it!
If you aren’t one of the 1,300 artists or more than 40,000 audience members who’ve experienced the exuberant performances at Built on Stilts over the past 29 years, these accolades might strike you as over-the-top. Otherwise, you know they barely scratch the surface.
The festival is the brainchild of Abby Bender and Anna Lucky, both dance majors from Bard College. Built on Stilts’ origin story is almost as whimsical as the event itself.
Through family connections, both women were able to spend the summer in Oak Bluffs in 1997, a few years after graduating. They longed for opportunities to dance, but the Yard was “inaccessible, mostly featuring visiting artists,” Bender recalls. So they decided to pull together something themselves, closer to home. Very close to home. “We were sitting on the porch and looked [across the street] at Union Chapel and thought, How about right here?”
They found the sexton in the phone book; he lived right across from them on the far side of the chapel, so they went over and signed a contract at his kitchen table. It seemed a propitious start to whatever it was that was about to happen.
They put up posters inviting anyone interested to join them; that initial event lasted just one night, and featured eight dancers. But it immediately garnered so much interest that within three or four years, it had expanded into a multi-day festival accommodating everyone who wanted to join in on the fun.
(Despite the name, neither Bender nor Lucky were stilt walkers. Their dorms at Bard had been built beside a ravine: the front of each building was level with the ground, but the backs were held up by what looked like giant stilts. “I loved that as a metaphor to try something out on shaky ground,” Bender said.)
These days, Bender runs the festival solo. For many years now, it’s happened across six days in August. She gets the word out by “doing all the things — I put up posters, I keep an email list from the past five or six years, I put it on Facebook.” And every year, unsurprisingly, there are converts from the audience. “This year there’s more new participants than I’ve had in a while, probably just from people seeing it,” she said, delighted at the prospect of new talent.
The premise and the structure of Built on Stilts have never changed: Literally anyone of any age, experience, or skill level can register to perform, in whatever format they wish to — dances of all genres, music, improv, comedy, mime, performance art — as long as there’s no swearing or nudity, and it doesn’t run over seven minutes. Every show since Day 1 has begun with a drumming circle to warm up (more on that in a moment), and a typical year can include drag, tap, hip-hop, ballet, modern dance, jazz, poetry, singer-songwriters, structured improv, audience participation, line-dancing senior citizens, and adorable kids. “The broader it is, the more fun it is,” said Bender. “It’s not about it being wowing and super-professional.”
Each group or solo artist is responsible for their own rehearsals, costumes, props, and music; Bender doesn’t even see any piece until tech rehearsal. It’s mostly anything goes, but when people register, she does reserve the right to refuse or alter work. “There have been a few occasions where I’ve asked people to change things. Like, please change the machine-gun gesture, since there’s just been a school shooting.”
Participants from all backgrounds adore the experience. Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad and her daughter Jordan remember happening upon a Built on Stilts performance; 2018 was the first year Jordan was old enough to perform, “and she was received with such warmth and acceptance both from the dance community and the broader community,” Lawson-Muhammad said. “We were hooked.”
Inspired by Jordan’s experience, Lawson-Muhammad tentatively contemplated performing as well; Jordan was at first hesitant about a mother-daughter dance, but changed her mind and now, said Lawson-Muhammad, “I’ve learned to collaborate with the next generation — allowing her to teach me to choreograph a performance.”
Maggie Sabella first joined in high school; now she co-directs Stiltshop, “where we get to play a part in molding the next generation of artists!” Alise Haigazian, who’s been involved since 2000, has started her own dance company, Island Hip Hop. Everyone — truly, everyone — loves Built on Stilts for its mixture of professionals, amateurs, first-timers, and seasoned vets. Christina Reppert, who began in Built on Stilts as a child, is grateful that now that she has children of her own, the stage is still open to her. “[It’s] a performance by a nonhierarchical community of people with diverse abilities and gifts. Every individual and their piece is made to feel like it belongs there. The intimacy and support is a magical experience.”
Bender, who increasingly works humor into her performances, loves almost everything about the experience. When pressed, one particular thing stands out: She gives the introductory spiel each evening, and so, “I often leave the warmup 30 seconds before everyone else — and I just sit back and watch, and it’s incredibly rewarding; I’ve never experienced anything quite like that feeling: the coming-together of our community.”
Over the course of 29 years, of course, there’ve been a few thorns in the bountiful bed of roses. In 2019 she did a duet with Cass Tunic that referenced how many days were left to the 2020 election, in a way that implied they were excited about voting Trump out of office. The crowd went wild. “After, this man tracked me down and scolded me for the political content of my piece, and said he’d never come back.” Another year, she remembers, “my mother’s cell phone went off in the middle of my Holocaust monologue.”
But just as often, what starts out as a problem can actually add to the moment. “One year when the power was out, we prepared — the show must go on! We told everyone to go home and get their flashlights, and we had a boombox ready.” The lights came back on before start time, but still, the urgency of the moment added something to that show. Another example is from Jordan-Muhammad’s dance routine one year: “A young man randomly runs into the chapel and across the stage, right in the middle of the piece.” When people expressed dismay or concern, her response was: “Please, no! I wanted to thank him for bringing such liveness to my piece. The beauty comes in the unexpected at BOS, and there’s always something.”
Even during COVID, the show still happened virtually, with 22 individual contributions online, as well as the stunning flash-mob video, “Be Here Now.” This was more than 30 red-clad participants dancing the same dance in public spaces all over the Vineyard, New York City, and in private homes; the videography included split screens and jump cuts so that everyone was dancing together while apart, amateurs to pros, children to chair-bound seniors, in private or in front of picnickers or beachgoers.
Across Built on Stilt’s history, there are four people who’ve been involved every year: Bender herself, fellow dancer Laura Sargent Hall, lighting designer/tech Brent Alberghini, and drummer Scott Hershowitz. There are now many drummers. “The drum circle warm-up is an iconic part of the process,” said Bender. “It brings us all together, it gets our heartbeats all together — and it tells the neighbors, ‘Hey, there’s something going on here.’”
This year’s show features 43 acts, each of which will get two performances during the run of the festival. (A few veterans, like Bender herself, will appear more often.) The program mostly lists dancers by name, but there’s some creative naming, too, like “Porch Dance Collective,” “MV Zumba Squad,” “Wondertwins,” “Camp Hippocampus,” and “The Pine Tree Road Boppers.” In a lovely sort of coming-full-circle, interns from the (once inaccessible) Yard will participate as well. Although the scope of Built on Stilts grew quickly, and has continued to stay strong, Bender isn’t interested in growth for growth’s sake: “I’m creatively ambitious, but I don’t think it needs to grow. It’s grown. It’s pretty self-sustaining. Of course, I’m always excited [when] there’s new, awesome work.”
Laura Sargeant Hall, the one other dancer who’s been part of the festival from the beginning, summarizes much of what the entire cohort feels: Built on Stilts is “a family that grows and changes every year made up of creative performers … I am so grateful to Abby Bender for creating such a safe space for me to choreograph and dance for 29 years. Hard to believe it’s been so long! I remember the first show … we had no idea it would become an Island tradition.”
Built on Stilts performs at Union Chapel, 55 Narragansett Ave., Oak Bluffs, August 7-9, and 16–18. All performances are free, and there are no reserved seats. Just show up!