BIKE riders in New York have a secret, a communal understanding about the pleasures of navigating the urban landscape, flowing through traffic and observing the city in a way that pedestrians and drivers can’t. That secret is often expressed in a smile or a nod to another rider while passing on a bridge or stopped at a light, a conspiratorial acknowledgment of a shared moment with strangers in a city that can seem impervious to them.
Now there is a new piece of interactive theater to take advantage of that feeling. Joyride is a group bike ride with a shared route and a common soundtrack. Riders equipped with MP3 players and headphones set off from the same point, pushing “play” simultaneously. They travel individually or in a pack, but each knows what the others are hearing. Gliding through the city on two wheels can already feel like being in a long tracking shot in a very personal movie, especially if you do it while listening to music. Joyride gives that experience an added dimension — an audience of participants.
“I like riding my bike and listening to music, and I thought it would be great to do that with other people,” said Liz Sherman, the theater director who came up with the project. “I thought it would be theatrical without needing to have a narrative or actors.” The sights and scenes of the city — what Ms. Sherman called “the ephemeral of the everyday” — provide the set, and sometimes the drama.
Joyrides have proved a natural match for Summer Streets, the city program that shuts Park Avenue and connecting streets to car traffic, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, mitigating the potential danger of riding while listening to music. (Legally, riders are supposed to wear only one custom earphone.) Ms. Sherman limits participation to 50 people; most spots for the ride on Saturday, the last day of Summer Streets, are spoken for, but there are cancellations, and she reserves 15 places for people who e-mail her through joyrideo.com with a good argument about why they should be let in. (Hint: mentioning the avant-garde French director Ariane Mnouchkine of Théâtre du Soleil, whose work inspired Ms. Sherman, doesn’t hurt.)
There’s more to Joyride than just a leisurely bike ride, though. There’s a picnic in Central Park, complete with checkerboard tablecloths spread on the grass, bouquets of flowers and a menu of lobster rolls and fresh corn salad, courtesy of Jane Park, a friend of Ms. Sherman who is also a chef. Ms. Sherman said it was integral to her vision to have all the participants meet. “Jane and I talk about it as the second act,” she said. “If everyone just rode and listened and then drifted away, it wouldn’t be right.” (Thanks to sponsorships and donations, Joyride is free.)
And there is the soundtrack, supplied by Duncan Bridgeman, a composer responsible for “1 Giant Leap,” a multimedia project in which artists from around the world build on the same pieces of music. Ms. Sherman and Mr. Bridgeman choreographed the Joyride soundtrack to match the surroundings, “depending on where we were during the ride,” she said, adding that at times “we wanted something that was more expansive or something that was more internal or something that had a great vibe, or something whispered in your ear.” The finale includes a bit of dialogue spoken by the yogi Bhagavan Das that, when timed right, proved powerful to some listeners. (No oms, or spoilers, here.)
Last week’s ride drew an assortment of New Yorkers, a few out-of-towners and a parrot, Raymond. “She hangs on with one foot on my collar, and holds onto my ear if it gets rough,” said Jan Peterson, 55, who nimbly rode with the bird on his shoulder.
David La, 31, who lives on the Upper West Side, did the ride as a tribute to the friend who got him into biking and died this year. “I loved it,” Mr. La said. “You would see some people bobbing their heads or sort of dancing on their bikes, and you knew exactly what beat they were listening to,” like “50 mobile clubs listening to the same D.J.”
Natalie Brill, 25, a nurse who is new to New York, participated after riding the Summer Streets route by herself the week before. “It was a much fuller experience,” she said. “You really connected with people, even though you weren’t talking. And I loved riding with that parrot.”
Ms. Sherman, who did a workshop for Joyride on Governors Island last year, is now hoping to take it to other cities — San Francisco has been discussed, and she dreams of Paris in the fall, for its Nuit Blanche festival. As a performance, she still considers it a work in progress.
But as an experience, most bikers thought Joyride delivered.
“It was probably the best bike ride I’ve ever had,” said Beverly Karabin, 51, a nurse practitioner and regular cyclist — she was decked out in Spandex — visiting from Toledo, Ohio, on her first trip to New York.
Caroline Park, 25, a tattooed Brooklyn bartender and daily rider, said she bike-danced “awkwardly” during the ride. But she gave it even higher praise. “I’m usually really, really aggressive and generally really upset at the world and New York traffic,” she said, “and I didn’t think about that at all.”
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