DAM! Lake Elmendorf
Event Details
Immersive creator Pamela Martinez continues Teletextile’s DAM! Series, a celebration of Art, Sound, and Nature. March 4th Event RSVP ONLY.
Pamela Martinez, local composer, and sound artist presents free and open-to-the-public sonic art performances at two San Antonio dams this March that explores water as a carrier of culture throughout our city. These performances are sponsored by the City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture.
A celebration of nature, infrastructure, and performance, this free public series seeks to bring awareness to local waterways and their importance in cultural connection. Two new events are set for the series for March that highlights the infrastructure around the water. Martinez remarks “When I look at a dam, I see an opera house. The majestic stage is set for the drama that is our lifeblood in the inevitable overflowing of water.” The first event on Saturday, March 4th is at Lake Elmendorf’s 19th Street Dam at 5:30 pm with two acts. The first act, dubbed Transformation, is a 30-minute immersive performance where the audience is invited to walk into the labyrinth dam’s teeth and experience a collaborative interpretation of transformation as it relates to the different states of water and a person’s ability to transform. The second act, Our Power Together, invokes the power that humans, nature, and music can make together to carry and hold the culture like the water in the dam. Our Power Together features an original score from Teletextile’s Pamela Martinez for percussion, horns & choral elements.
The second event set for Saturday, March 25th, at 5:30 pm at the Roosevelt Tunnel Outlet begins with musicians floating on kayaks in the San Antonio River for the reprisal of Our Power Together. The second act, dubbed Flow, will invite guests to parade with singers and musicians along the river up to the floating pavilion above the river and the unseen three-mile water tunnel beneath their feet. As a conclusion to the artistic experience, there will be a repeat rendition of Martinez’s composition DAM! A Song of Water was performed at the Spanish Colonial Mission which originally opened the event in October.
Both performances will be about an hour long. This RSVP Is for our first event only at Lake Elmendorf. Every performance is unique and site-specific. We’d love for you to come to both Lake Elmendorf and Roosevelt Tunnel Outlet.
Lake Elmendorf’s 19th Street Dam
Sat Mar 4, 2023, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
3700 W Commerce St, San Antonio, TX 78207
Echoes Geomap Audio Experience:
Teletextile has created a listening experience for you to explore leading up to the events. In order to listen to the audio collage you must download the Echoes app which enables audio mapping via gps. Through the DAM! audio tour different spaces will trigger different sounds on your phone’s speaker. We recommend using headphones. Near the dam, the tour is meant for walking, but you can keep listening to and from your drive home as the audio expands to highway 1604. This audio piece includes interviews about water’s nature, field recordings of the San Antonio River, and music written and recorded by Pamela Martinez for The DAM! Series. Many of these recordings were created with the local community at Espada’s DAM! event on Oct 9, 2022. Listen Here via Echoes
Both performances are free to attend, but please RSVP via Eventbrite. This will reserve you a program and get you any need-to-know details before the show.
Note to audience:
Performances will be inside the dams and near the San Antonio River. There will be wet areas. Please wear closed-toe shoes or waterproof shoes with traction, especially for Lake Elmendorf’s 19th St dam. For safety reasons, performances will be rescheduled if there is rain because performances will be inside of the dams. Lake Elmendorf Park, Roosevelt Park, The City of San Antonio, and Teletextile are not responsible or liable for injuries or damages that occur during the event. Appearing at the event means releasing your image for documented photos and video of the performance.
Parking: Parking is very limited inside Elmendorf Lake Park. We suggest biking carpooling, taking public transportation, or a Lyft. Otherwise, parking is at Lake Elmendorf’s many lots and may require some walking to get to the performance site. There is additional parking on the street. Please be mindful of local residents and signage for no parking areas.
RSVP for free tickets. You can also upgrade your ticket to 1) Buy a digital download of the music being made and recorded for the project to be delivered in early summer and 2) reserve a seat (though walking is still part of this performance).
Our Next and Final Performance details are below. Every performance is unique and site-specific. We invite you to COME TO BOTH.
Roosevelt Tunnel Outlet
Sat Mar 25, 2023, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
655 Lone Star Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78204
Visit Deceleration’s Happening Events Calendar.