First Night Preview: Grand Procession

Chinese folk sport group.

Cuban stiltwalkers, musicians and puppets make their way down Congress Ave. in celebration of a New Year.

Kung Fu-inspired action-adventure dance with pedicabs.

Bicycle circus vehicles are frame works for a zodiac of animals accompanied by a one-man bicycle band float.

Join in the end of the Grand Procession with your own individualized Spirit Kite.

A group of New Orlean’s musicians relocated to Austin after Hurricane Katrina parade in elaborate feathered costumes and masks with the accompaniment of percussion sounds.

A large rolling grocery cart serves as pace-setter for the grand procession.

A celebration of the four elements of hip hop featuring painting by graffiti artist Nate Nordstrom, break dance performance by B-Boy City and spoken word by Austin Poetry Slam.

In the weeks leading up to New Year's Eve 2007, a fleet of messengers--costumed in pink and traveling by bicycle--will deliver a flood of love notes throughout the city of Austin. Those who receive love are encouraged to pass it on by contacting PINK or visiting PINK headquarters to schedule a subsequent delivery to those they love -- and on and on . . . becoming a city-wide experiment in saturation, communication, and contagion made manifest through mediated acts of love. All who send and receive (pink) love are invited to march with PINK in the First Night Austin Grand Processional down Congress Avenue, and participate in the whimsical post-processional Bicycle Carnival at Town Lake created in collaboration with Bikes Across Austin.

A giant, human-powered hamster art car with human-sized wheels powered by men and women in suits and ties chases a giant wedge of mobile cheese.

Dancers in electro-luminous costumes explore the pedestrian experience through spontaneous dance compositions integrated into the urban streetscape.

Dancers and drummers dressed in traditional West Afrikan attire with face and body paint perform a series of Afrikan dance, rhythms and songs.

International drumming from Austin’s diverse drumming community.

Jugglers, unicyclers, skaters and stilt walkers animate the Procession route.

Dr. Praetorius travels in a gypsy wagon with a troupe of carnival performers he has created in his alchemical laboratory.

Students from 5 AISD TAP After School programs animate their wishes for the coming year through a fanciful spectacle of puppetry, mask, dance and music.

TCTA teens from 15 City of Austin Recreation Centers create giant flags with an Austin twist. TCTA is a collaborative project of the Parks and Recreation Department with the Dougherty Arts Center, the Community Recreation Centers, and the Roving Leader Program funded by Austin City Council’s Social Fabric Initiative.

Dancers with disabilities from Austin high schools process with balloons sharing messages of hope for the New Year.