AKRON, Ohio — Akronites can now dance like no one’s watching to their own tunes at a public dance floor installation with Bluetooth speakers that anyone can connect to in Akron’s Lock 4.
Residents can head down to Lock 4 anytime between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. until Oct. 2 to take part in the public dance party at the installation created by Swedish architectural collaborative Dansbana! in collaboration with Northeast Ohio-based FRONT International, according to a news release from the city.
The installation depicts large-scale hands wearing rings and a bracelet and features Bluetooth speakers that members of the public can connect to their cell phones and other devices to play a song or playlist of their choice. The speakers stay connected for 20 minutes at a time before disconnecting to allow others to connect their music.
“FRONT International is thrilled to partner with the City of Akron and Dansbana! on the Lock 4 installation,” said FRONT Triennial founder Fred Bidwell. “Local artists and dance organizations sharing their vision for public space helped to create this collaborative platform for dance and creative expression in the heart of downtown and we hope Akron residents and visitors will enjoy engaging with this installation.”
Dansbana! was founded in Stockholm in 2015, and has since designed public, Bluetooth-powered, open-access dance floors through a community-driven process. The spaces were initially developed as a response to a lack of public recreation areas for young girls and women in and around Stockholm.
The Akron dance floor was designed and developed through a series of workshops with dancers from Akron, cultural organizations and local artists.
Find out more about other FRONT International exhibitions and performances taking place around Akron and Northeast Ohio here.
Click here for a calendar of events taking place on the new dance floor installation.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
