Afterwards, Roadside seeks to identify resources and infrastructure for an ongoing theatrical project in the host town. Now in its twenty-fifth year, the ensemble performs more than 200 times annually and has toured to 43 states and Europe. She and a core group of dancers, ranging in age from 20s to 70s, hold panel discussions and workshops with students, teachers, healthcare providers, and other groups in the places they visit, mining material that the choreographer orchestrates into metaphorical performances with community members. For two years, for example, they worked with Portsmouth, NH residents on a piece exploring the demise of the city's shipyard which had been a lynchpin of their identities and livelihoods. Dance has become so stripped of its community function that dancers are expected to care only about form.
Many programs create social capital in episodic and ephemeral ways.