The experience begins in Liberty City today, where we meet Liberty City elder Ms. Pearl, in her memorabilia-filled home. Ms. Pearl is packing boxes. She has been given 3 months to move out of the house she has lived in for decades. A new development is being built. Ms. Pearl wants us to understand the importance of Black history and culture to Miami and sends us time-traveling to explore different Liberty City time-periods and locations where we meet several versions of her younger self.
In 1949, 8-year-old ‘Little Pearl’ shows us the six-foot-tall “race wall” segregating Liberty Square’s African American residents from surrounding white communities. We dance the Lindy Hop with a 23-year-old Pearl in the glamorous Hampton House in 1964. And in 1980s we jam at a DJ battle in ‘the pit’ witnessing the birth of Miami Bass Sound.
Every time we return to Ms. Pearl’s house, there are fewer of her possessions. The last time we return to her now-empty house, Ms. Pearl defiantly walks out with her last suitcase filled with memories. She reminds us to share what we have witnessed, as the shadow of a bulldozer starts filling the frame.
THE PEOPLE
Ms. Pearl
Our lead character is Liberty City Elder Ms. Pearl based on real-life Liberty City Elder Dr. Enid PInkney.
We also encounter younger versions of Ms. Pearl. Young Pearl at 8 years old in Liberty Square of 1949, and 23-year-old Pearl in the famous Hampton House Lounge in 1964.
ALL CHARACTERS FROM LCVR
NEIGHBORHOOD FRIEND
THE MOTION
It was important to create authentic Black movement. So we used motion capture - a way to create animation where sensors are mounted to dancers and actors that record each movement. Later that movement is re-targeted, cleaned up and animated. This recording was special. We did it at the Historic Hampton House and invited Liberty City elders.
THE PLACES
This is Liberty Square. When it was built, far from downtown Miami in 1937, it was one of the first segregated public housing project in the South.
Liberty City grew around it and became the hot spot of Black culture.
THE SOUND
LET’S DANCE
Music plays a big part in our experience. From Duke Ellington in the 1940s to Miami’s own Deep City Record label in the 1960s and Hip Hop’s Miami Bass that grew out of the famous DJ battles. Miami composer Shannon Sea and original DJ Bo d’Lover come together to bring Miami’s unique style to this spatial auditory experience.