Dancing Perfectly Free

photo by Konrad Fiedler

On Sunday afternoon, several brave Performance Clubbers and I climbed into a manhole in the middle of Atlantic Avenue, along with a few hundred other people, to enter the dark, mysterious Atlantic Avenue subway tunnel.  I learned about the tunnel this past April, and luckily the P. Club enthusiastically embraced the idea of making it an outing.  Bob Diamond, who rediscovered the old tunnel in 1980 and founded the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association, led a historically-rich (although not necessarily entirely factual) tour that included some over-the-top reenactments from a theater group and plenty of details about his fascination with and discovery of the tunnel.  Setting aside the theater component, Diamond’s lengthy commentary was a performance in and of itself – one that he shares with audiences at least once a month.

Performance Club founder Claudia La Rocco wrote a great post about the tunnel adventure on the WNYC Art.Cult blog, so I encourage you to head over there and check it out.  I shared some thoughts in the comments section, and everyone should feel free to jump into the conversation as well.  I’m sure there will be a lively discussion in no time.  Hopefully this is only the first of many P. Club adventures underground.

A documentary about the tunnel is currently in the works.  Watch the trailer and learn more at What’s Behind the Wall.

photos by Evan Namerow