Compass - By Ellen Godena and John Morrison for Juddertone

Videotaped by Charles Daniels!

This is a piece that represents a 6 month collaboration by me and Composer John Morrison (of the Longy School of Music in Cambridge MA).

It is based on an elemental map we created that was loosely derived from the landscape of a Japanese Brush Painting. The movement is spare

and the sound so too. It is improvised according to the areas traversed on the map by the travelers. In this case, me (Ellen), the mover, and Dennis

Shafer (bari sax) and Wei Wang (Trombone). We performed this at the BU Dance Theater in Boston Massachusetts in November 2009 for the Juddertone

Performance Series.

This is a new rehearsal vid for my show this weekend 12/12. I'm a new member of the Mobius Artists Group (MAG): http://www.mobius.org

I am thrilled to become a member of this experimental arts community. The goal, for me, is to bring as much awareness as I can to experimental/movement/dance works created by and for local Boston-based artists. As a RISD grad, I would also like to cross-fertilize a bit, the work of some alumni who live in the New England area.

That said, my personal website really needs some updating: http://www.oceanbody.com

...and d really needs a website herself.

What I found when I googled ART-COMMUNITY-ISOLATION

The following is a long thread from my personal facebook page. As an experimental artist in Boston, I have felt a personal sense of isolation (negative connotation) not solitude (positive connotation) as I've been creating, producing, and performing work here in the last year...after re-locating from Manhattan. I wanted to see what my creative friends had to say about the quote I found when I googled Art-Community-Isolation. Here is the thread:

"Without isolation, creativity cannot exist... An inability to seek out isolation, to love and make use of it, is a crushing impediment to the creative process. By the same token, there is no greater peril to the artist's mental health than failure to realize how risky a business prolonged social isolation can become."

Nine of my artist-friends 'liked' the quote. Several people seemed to feel ambivalent about the idea of isolation but saw it as necessary. 3 Responders stated that they did not like isolation and felt that their most important work was done collaboratively with others or through some need defined by a community. Performers seemed more likely to echo this sentiment. Most notably (to me anyway), more people that commented on the status reported that they felt being 'isolated' was part of being creative. Someone also noted that being artistic and living a creative life was not 'sensible' and perhaps isolation-style living was more suitable as a result of this. But, I really appreciated deborah's responses to the thread: "What exactly defines isolation in this instance? solitude is not interchangeable with isolation - they imply two completely different states so if we are to consider isolation in the context (already we have a paradox) of creative process then we need to explore how it is different from "being alone" or "being in solitude" and the connection ..."And our friend, Phil James also noted:"I agree with Deborah: there is a big difference between isolation and solitude. I think there is much to be gained from purposeful retreats and these may even be essential, but though difficult and messy, interactivity is for me the source of ongoing nourishment."

Ocean Beach Seal Rock 8 26 09

Deborah performing at Seal Rock dappled with Seals awaiting high tide inspires this spontaneous dance in the cool wind and fog of the Pacific.

Ellen Godena - Bridge Dance

Performed on a cold spring day in 2009, this is a piece about water! Take a look at Deborah's beach videos on her youtube page in our video section. I like that we are both moving and responding to the sound and edges of the sea. In my case, it is the Charles River under the Mass Ave bridge in Boston...very close to the ocean and under traffic. Max Lord took this video with his phone on a cold windy day this winter/spring 2009

Welcome to our project

Ellen and I decided to embark on a bi-coastal project where we could share our experiences of our "butoh-body meets the world". We both share a desire and passion to interface the butoh-body and the world by removing ourselves from the typical stage space which is fraught with narrow perspectives and geometrically constructed impenetrable boundaries. While the stage or black box can provide a neat laboratory setting, it quickly becomes much too insulated from the rest of the world where much of our inspiration and motivation to move is located. Personally, the space in which I dance is as much a part of the dance as my body, the air, the sounds in and around the space, other beings - all contribute and become the dance. Here, I hesitate to use the word dance as I prefer "movement" however, as I go deeper into my explorations I'll address that hesitation more specifically and directly - in the meantime, I will use both words interchangeably.
My specific interest in this project includes writing from the direct experience of my moving butoh body in/with/around/through the world. This is a phenomenological approach and one that I think we need more of specifically in relation to Butoh. What is the experience of the butoh body? What can be learned from a vulnerable breathing sensitive body as it makes contact with the world? How does the butoh body in public sense and form relationships to nature, other people, other beings, structures, space, time (space-time) and self? Here, Ellen and I hope to open a new and much needed dialogue within the butoh community.