Olympic Valley, CA – Music, art, dance and poetry unite in the Sierra Nevada at 6,200 feet in the seventh annual art hike produced by Trails and Vistas. The event takes place Sept. 11-12 at California’s Squaw Valley USA ski and snowboard resort in Olympic Valley, on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore.nAudience members, led by an experienced guide, hike in small groups pausing at ten art venues, each set against the striking backdrop of towering granite rock faces and cascading mountains. Blending art with nature, the hike is said to have a profound effect on participants and has sold out four years in a row.
This year’s theme, “If Dreams were Clouds” honors the dreamtime. Inspired by dream songs of the land and animals intertwined with the playful and powerful dance of clouds in the sky, artists play with the concept of dreamtime and clouds — floating, twisting, and holding a sculptural figurine before being carried away to another place or sculpted into a memory.
San Francisco’s 2010 Artists and Performers Capacitor, an ensemble of interdisciplinary dancers, headlines the 2010 Trails and Vistas art hikes throughout the weekend with poetic moving bodies in the landscape set to musical earthly sounds. Featured artists for Sunday, Sept. 12’s art hikes only is the Banana Slug String Band’s eco-music vocals and guitar performance.
Trails and Vistas is also collaborating with more than 20 other artisans. Last year’s stand out performer, Angelika’s Healing Music, returns with her musical magic from lands afar. Additional returning performers include local dancers from InnerRhythms Dance Theatre and Arts For the Schools artist and poet Cathee van Rossem St. Clair.
The nearly three-mile-long hike is strenuous and includes approximately 1,500 gain in elevation. Hikers must be comfortable traversing some rocky areas including some steep pitches. Hiking groups will depart every 15 minutes with a trail leader. Dogs and photography are not allowed. Tickets are on sale now, costing $30 for adults and $15 for children, and may be purchased at www.trailsandvistas.org or by calling the Truckee Chamber at (530) 587-2757.