CRASH
DrumRoll installation
(mock up for gallery installation)
Artistic Director/Composer: Mary Ellen Childs
Video Director: Caitlin Hammel
Audio: Cody Anderson
Performers: Heather Barringer, Erik Barsness,
Peter O’Gorman, Eric Sundeen
Lighting: Heidi Eckwall

MARY ELLEN CHILDS is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. 

 
MARY ELLEN CHILDS is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks t
 

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CRASH
Sight of Hand (short film)
   With the St.Paul Saints
(minor league baseball team)
Filmed at live game, CHS Field, St. Paul
Artistic Director/Composer: Mary Ellen Childs
Video Director: Caitlin Hammel

Baseball and art? The St. Paul Saints’ CHS Field is located smack-dab in the middle of the Lowertown arts district. Leave it to composer Mary Ellen Childs – who specializes in percussive work – to find the musicality IN baseball. With her project, Sight of Hand, performers turn baseball coaching signals into percussive rhythms, then clapping games and even hamboning.

Filmed live at the Saints’ minor league baseball game at CHS Field in St. Paul, performers from Mary Ellen Childs’ CRASH percussion ensemble and from percussion dance company Flying Foot Forum performed snippets of Childs’ Sight of Hand in the stands, creating this high-energy music-video. 

Using an actual baseball game as a backdrop, the music-video intercuts virtuosic percussion performance (executing rhythmic baseball signals) with real-life baseball signals from Saints coaches, real baseball plays and a live crowd cheering them on! 

Missed the game? Watch our live-stream via our Facebook page.
Like our Facebook page: CRASH percussion group

CREDITS:
Artistic Director/Composer: Mary Ellen Childs
Video Director: Caitlin Hammel
Performers:
     CRASH
         Heather Barringer
         Erik Barsness
         Michael Holland
         Peter O’Gorman
         Eric Sundeen
     FLYING FOOT FORUM
         Joe Chvala
         Karla Grotting
Camera: Caitlin Hammel, Jerry Nelson, Mike Rivard, and V. Paul Virtucio
Documentary camera: Sarah Abdel-Jelil
Costumes: Angie Vo
Project Administrator: Dana Kassel
St. Paul Saints Music Director: Andrew Crowley

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PROJECT FUNDERS:
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
          CRASH is the recipient of a Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Metropolitan Regional Arts Council
          This activity is funded, in part, by an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State’s general fund.
St. Paul Cultural STAR program

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CRASH to CUBA
October 2015
Havana International Theater Festival
Trianon Theater

CRASH performed in CUBA at the invitation of the Havana International Theater Festival in October 2015. Founded in 1980, and presented biennially, the festival fills Cuba's theaters and cultural spaces with a fusion of theatre, dance and music by artists from around the world. Presented by the National Council for the Performing Arts and the Ministry of Culture, the featured artists from Cuba, South America, the United States, and Europe. Here are some photos from our trip and performance.