The A.W.A.R.D. Show!

Friday January 28, 2011 8pm OTB Merrill Wright Mainstage - J's E. presents group work saying goodbye again and again and again and again... [stifle]

For more info

http://www.ontheboards.org/special-events/award-show

http://www.joyce.org/about/special_events_awardshow.php

or keep checking in here

2 pieces in the upcoming 12 Min Max at OTB!

Mercy is a Warrior

On the Boards has been very generous in allowing Josephine's Echopraxia to perform TWO pieces at the next 12 Minutes Max

There is some misinformation on the site so I thought I would write a little blog about the two pieces to be performed.

First is Mercy is a Warrior presented in the foyer elevator during intermission. For this I will be joined by Tobi Nussbaum. This duet is in effect dance as social protest and you will see the costuming is representative of powerless, isolation and deprivation and [while not sourced directly from] is in line with the dramatic images of protestors around the globe. I have long been experimenting with binding and bandaging in my costuming, this has occasionally been misconstrued as fetish wear and now is being loosely identified with some sort of comment on disability, while these are fertile performance grounds I am not sure I am the right person to address either one. I am more interested in this costuming as a metaphor for restriction and damage perpetuated upon an individual by social, political, economic and cultural forces.

Mercy is a Warrior will be the first time I incorporate blindfolding, gagging and earplugs. Like political protestors I am interested in intensifying the content by increasing the level of commitment [or risk or discomfort] of the performer. I first approached this sort of performance with On second thought maybe I don't want to be your trophy wife. In which the gender political message is underlined and highlighted by the physical trials of having chilled water poured over the performer's blinking eyes and grinning lips as industrial size fans bring visible goosebumps to the surface of a barely clothed woman teetering and shivering in ridiculous shoes.

However unlike political protests Mercy is a Warrior is not addressing a particular topic but the notion of mercy in general. The idea of individual vulnerability and the responsibility of community. How we are all at the mercy of one another in EVERYTHING WE DO, we are each individually powerless against the will of the collective. I have been thinking of how often in life one has the chance of granting mercy to another but how our 'grab what you can' culture encourages us in the opposite direction and how often we confuse strength with violence, aggression and competition instead of empathy and generosity. It takes far more strength to share and understand than it does to steamroll one another. It takes more strength to bite your tongue than to lash out. It takes more strength to withstand than to attack.

So this is not a fetish piece, not about transgender binding, this is not about impairment or disability or a gimmicky performance trick it is contemplating mercy and putting myself in a place where I have to rely on the mercy of others, in a position where mercy is the only option. A protest asking for us to consider the way we can increase mercy in every aspect of our lives and eventually hopefully in larger global ways.

The second piece is a solo originally created for the Unicycle Collective's Monolodge 6 in spring 2009 as Suppress now called Turn a blind eye. This solo is about domestic violence as the theme for Monolodge 6 was Love's Tangled Web.

There is no relation between the two pieces other than that they are both made by the same person.

Big Ups to OTB for letting me show not one but two short works!

Come see both pieces Mercy is a Warrior and Turn a blind eye. Be sure to come to the front lobby at intermission to catch Mercy is a Warrior in the elevator.

Next Sunday and Monday Dec 12 and 13 at 7pm at On the Boards Studio Theater, 100 West Roy St, Seattle WA, 98119,

Tickets for 12MM are $8 and are only available one hour before show time in the Studio lobby (No advance sales)

http://www.ontheboards.org/special-events/12-minutes-max-1

Also- Don't forget to make a year end gift to Josie! https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=30857

ps [added on 12/6] I would say this image by Hannah Wilke would have something to do with it too. Bandaging as a means of healing, but also protection- an armor against future attack. A visible representation of both the vulnerability of the self, but also the resiliency and potential for self-repair.

P:SA Closure

Photos from the breakdown of P:SA residency

GASLIT

Gaslighting

is a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented to the victim with the intent of

making them doubt their own memory and perception

October 14th,15th and 16th Josephine's Echopraxia (Marissa Rae Niederhauser) and Project: Space Available present Gaslit, with sound by Michael Hayes. Gaslit is the last of a series of three tableau vivants titled It doesn't matter if it has been said before some things bear repeating, created during a two month residency at

http://projectspaceavailable.com/

More exhibition than performance, audience members are invited to come and go or meander at will. The gallery will be open from 8-9 pm on Thursday, October 14th and from 7-8 pm on Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th. Why not stop in before heading out for the evening?

Also on view will be the residual installation of previous tableau vivants, On second thought maybe I don't want to be your trophy wife, with videography by Dave Hanagan, and Your morality tales are ignorant and arrogant and I am sick of hearing them with videography by Corrie Befort.

Project: Space Available is located on 10th between Pike and Pine in the same building as SweatBox Yoga, just follow the signs or email projectspaceavailable@gmail.com or josephinesechopraxia@gmail.com

for more information.

Donations for Project: Space Available accepted at door.

Creation of this work was made possible in part by an Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects (GAP). Find out more at http://www.artisttrust.org/

Please note this show involves difficult (but true to life) subject matter. It is not appropriate for children.

The Thursday showing is a special Arts Crush event http://artscrush.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=128

Special Thank You:

Greatful Bread Bakery, Project: Space Available, QFC, Vanessa DeWolf, Chris Lahoda, Jeremy Barker, Michael Hayes, helga hizer, Quentin DeWolf, Monica Mata Giliam, Alice Gosti, Corrie Befort,Tanya Card, Kevin Kauer, Artist Trust, and Shunpike,

MORALITY TALES

The second installment of It doesn't matter if it has been said before some things bear repeating, a tableau vivant titled Your morality tales are ignorant and arrogant and I am sick of hearing them will have open gallery hours Friday and Saturday 9/24 and 9/26 from 9:45-10:30 pm at Project Space Available in Capitol Hill 0n 10th Ave between E Pike and E Union in the same building as Sweatbox Yoga continue winding back and to the right following signs posted or email projectspaceavailable@gmail.com or josephinesechopraxia@gmail.com for a more detailed address.

More exhibition than performance, audience members are invited to come and go or meander at will.

after the party is over

Thanks for coming out everyone and going to that crazy place with Paul and I.

TROPHY

My residency is turning out to be a series of tableau vivants titled, I don't care if it has been said before some things bear repeating. The first, On second thought maybe I don't wan to be your trophy wife. will be on view this Friday and Saturday the 10th and 11th from 7-7:30 pm at Project: Space Available On 10th Ave between Pike and Pine on Capitol Hill in the same building as Sweatbox Yoga continue winding back and to the right following signs posted or email projectspaceavailable@gmail.com or josephinesechopraxia@gmail.com for a more detailed address.

P:SA Movin in

I moved into Project: Space Available on the 1st. The first open gallery hours will be this weekend. Stay posted or send an email.

Here are some photos of the space and the move-in starting with a champagne toast!

P:SA Reading List

The reading list for my upcoming residency at Project: Space Available http://projectspaceavailable.com/ September through October 2010

Press Information

PHOTOS

The following photos are from stifle 2010

taken by Tim Summers

Pictured left to right: Allie Hankins, Marissa Rae Niederhauser and Spencer Moody.

Below photo from an improvisation 2010

taken by Jacqueline Portolese

The following photos from stop loss 2009

taken by Ian Johnston

pictured: Spencer Moody and Marissa Rae Niederhauser.

Below is a film still from tracings 2010

cinematography by Benjamin Kasulke

Below photo from Suppress 2008

taken by Ian Johnston.

Below is a film still from Holding This For You 2008

Taken by Kaija Cornett

PRESS

Excerpts from reviews of Josephine's Echopraxia

"They then branch out with a fierce, wild energy, occasionally pausing prone on the ground, moving like boxers, backed by Spencer Moody’s three-piece garage band. They’re an ensemble: linked, visually and physically, but never touch." -Amy Mikel for Seattlest, review of stifle, June 2010

"And finally, Marissa Rae Niederhauser delivered a fierce piece with stifle. The rawness of Spencer Moody & co.'s dirty guitars and rock drums, which greeted the audience coming back in after intermission, was paired with an athletic and occasionally brutal-looking dance work, in which the company, moving fluidly in and out of sync with one another, dramatically bore witness to strife and struggle with their bodies." -Jeremy M. Barker for TheSunbreak, review of stifle, June 2010

"...a stark and emotional dance by Marissa Rae Niederhauser. The music and the choreographer seemed inspired by Steve Albini in a foul mood: Five dancers, two guitarists, and a drummer gave thundering but stark performances with slamming chords and tense, contorted bodies..." - Brendan Kiley for The Stranger, review of stifle, June 2010

"After the intermission was Josephine’s Echopraxia’s stifle. An ensemble movement piece set to a discordant and gritty score. It had a music-video sheen that never diminished the drama of the piece." -Joe Von Appen for On the Boards Blog, Review of stifle, June 2010

"The piece begins with rather angry looking dancers bracing for battle. As they fade upstage, S.O.S is being thumped into their chests setting the tone that this is fully a performance of emergency.

Like a huge blast, the dancers throw their pelvises at the audience and it is on. Live musicians grind away at electric guitars and live drums bang out a Black Snake Moan southern gothic that creates the dust devil of movement that Marissa evokes from her dancers. The dancers are flailing and crawling and seemingly breaking themselves in half in unison. There is so much to see and it is all happening so fast. From earlier interviews, I know that this piece is about an onstage choking experience that Marissa has had and so I know the urgency and life threatening choreography are very visceral to her. I have seen Marissa communicate and direct her dancers and can see that she has imbued them with this same energy. Suffice it to say that it is powerful and caused me to sweat.

A special nod is in order for the live musicians. Spencer Moody from Murder City Devils, Cameron Elliott from Battle Hymns and Mongrel Blood and Ryan Crase bring a throbbing music that provides an urgent structure that pushes the choreography forward.

This piece proves that Marissa is a solid maturing force in dance and if allowed the right resources can deliver a breathtaking and meaningful spectacle."

-Shango Los for the On the Boards Blog, Review of stifle, June 2010

"Also, wordlessly, Melissa [sic] Rae Niederhauser dances a violent idea more articulately than any spoken language could convey." -Margaret Friedman for The Seattle Weekly, review of Suppress April 2008

Full Artictles

Marissa Rae Niederhauser's stifle At the NW New Works Festival

By Jeremy M. Barker for The Sunbreak http://thesunbreak.com/2010/06/04/marissa-rae-niederhausers-stifle-at-the-nw-new-works-festival

"It wasn't a full-blown near-death experience," dancer and choreographer Marissa Rae Niederhauser said in a recent telephone interview, "where I left my body and saw the light at the end of the tunnel and met God. It wasn't that type of near-death experience. But it was one of those, waking-up-to-your-own-frail-mortality moments."

She was referring to an event that happened a couple years ago, when, while performing onstage, she began choking on food. While she admits she was only unable to breathe for a matter of seconds (she didn't fully pass out, and completed the performance effectively without interruption), the experience was a transformational one.

"No one—for whatever reason—was able to come to my rescue," she continued. "I saw some people in the audience look very concerned. And some people were laughing. And some people looked angry. But nobody got up to aid me, even though I was in front of all those people. And I understand. I don't know if I'd do something different. Eventually what happened was that my diaphragm went into intense, painful spasms. I coughed it up and finished the dance in this strange, sort of euphoric state of being."

While terrifying, the experience proved artistically fruitful for Niederhauser, who has been exploring it in a series of pieces since, leading up to this weekend, when her company, Josephine's Echopraxia, presents stifle at the Northwest New Works Festival at On the Boards (Sat. & Sun., 8 p.m.; tickets $14). It's Niederhauser's most ambitious stage project to date, having previously produced a pair of dance films (Holding This For You (2008), and Tracings (post-production)), in addition to performing with companies like Maureen Whiting and Degenerate Art Ensemble, while presenting her own work in mixed repertory evenings at events throughout the Northwest.

The genesis of the work lies not so much in the terror of dying, or even the relief at being alive, as it does in Niederhauser's experience of her own body's response to the life-threatening event.

"Afterward...I don't know if I strained my diaphragm," she explained, "but my diaphragm area was burning and hurting for about a week and a half. So I had an awareness of how that part of my body worked that I'd never felt before, and I'm sort of eternally curious with how the body functions. I had to explore it more, and put it in the work."

The violent, diaphragmatic spasming that ultimately saved her life has become part of the vocabulary of stifle, in which Niederhauser and four other dancers (Meredith Horiuchi, Meredith Sallee, Rosa Vissers, and her frequent collaborator Allison Hankins) imitate the action, based in part on Niederhauser's own experience and in part on Yogic breathing exercises. The result is a striking, visceral image in which the dancers' abdomens seem to empty, the stomachs going concave (which is the reason for the midriff-baring costumes).

"If you exhale all your breath, and then pull your diaphragm up, you kind of scoop your organs up under your ribs as well, so it hollows out," Niederhauser said. "Yogis practice this kind of thing, and there's some other body-techniques that practice this kind of thing."

Thematically, stifle was constructed from this very basic idea of the body's struggle to survive trauma and expanded to address the broader cultural context in which Niederhauser is working.

"It was around the same time that the economy was collapsing, and everyone kind of kissed their dreams goodbye and felt like slaves for a while," she told me. "The limiting forces on your life, within yourself and without yourself. And at the same time we're at war, and so we're struggling at that level."

Earlier related works addressed one or another of these components, such as Stop Loss (about the war) or The Low-Jack (the title of which suggests American culture's gullibility in adding to the current financial crisis). But add to those big themes some personal losses in her life, and stifle becomes a richly emotional palette of experience in which Niederhauser—whose choreographic vision tends towards the raw and emotional rather than studious formalism—and her company open up deep emotional and psychological wounds onstage, within a sort of protective and even healing environment reinforced by the essential image of the body's ability to protect itself from death. (Stop Loss, for instance, expressly referenced the idea of health or protection, being performed inside a circle of salt onstage.)

"Replicating that experience has become a really emotional thing for me. I'm having nightmares about it!" she told me. "But I really like that feeling, of confronting intense fear."

A final component of stifle is that marks a further collaboration between Niederhauser and Spencer Moody, the lead-singer of the Murder City Devils (among others) and the owner of the Anne Bonny. Moody, along with musicians Cameron Elliott and Ryan Crase, provides a live accompaniment of guitars, piano, and drums. Asked about why it was artistically important to have live music, Niederhauser explained that the interplay between the live music and movement, in which she freely admits something can (and occasionally does) go wrong, adds an important element to stifle.

"Since the piece was so much about the fight for life and the fight for survival, it was important not to have anything too distant or too perfect in the piece."

Marissa Niederhauser's Film About Keys & Conquest

By Jeremy M. Barker for The Sunbreak http://thesunbreak.com/2009/09/04/marissa-niederhausers-film-about-keys-conquest

About five minutes into her dance film Holding This For You, Marissa Rae Niederhauser throws herself against the wall, slides to the floor, and begins trying to untie a key knotted to the front of her dress. But Ben Kasulke's camera stays trained to her face; she squints a little as she works, purses her lips before biting the lower one, and only when she's mostly worked her way through the knot and closed her eyes does the camera trail down to her breast as she pulls the key off the ribbon. She holds it tightly in her hand for a long moment, her face, turned from the camera, slightly out of focus, and then drops it.

"Different stories work better onstage, and different stories work better on film," explained Niederhauser last week at Smith, near her home on Capitol Hill. "And I'm particularly drawn to small facial gestures and physical details. Onstage, dance is great to have these big, sweeping spacial patterns and geometric forms, kind of like a kaleidoscope. But this was kind of more a psychological drama, so I feel like it's more important to be able to focus the eye and show people what you want to show them instead of this big, watercolor wash of the entire stage."

In person, Niederhauser, a 2002 Cornish College graduate with blonde hair, straight-cut bangs, and a puckish smile, doesn't bear much resemblance to the tortured character in her debut film. Shot in 2006 in a Georgetown warehouse that was being renovated into artist lofts, Holding This For You, her first film, has shown at several festivals internationally since its debut at Northwest Film Forum's Local Sightings Festival last year, and is returning to Seattle for a showing this Monday at Bumbershoot, as part of a double-bill called "Dreamscapes" at 9 p.m. in the SIFF Cinema.

Niederhauser has danced for a number of Seattle's most respected choreographers over the last few years, including Maureen Whiting, Zoe Scofield, and Dayna Hanson, and produces her own work, both for film and the stage, under the company name Josephine's Echopraxia.

Her film work grew out of her struggle to find direction after graduating college. "I guess there was a while after school where I thought that you waited for somebody to recognize how great you were," she said. "And then when that didn't happen realized you have to it into your own hands to show people that you're worth bothering with."

The film centers on the idea of love as an act of control or oppression, she explains: "Sometimes when love is placed on a person, it's not a positive thing. It's more an act of colonization, and it can be kind of a trap. And it can also be given with the intent of changing a person, just like when you're colonizing a country."

Influenced by everything from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" to Patti Hearst's Stockholm Syndrome to the fairy tale of Rapunzel, the film follows the central character as she struggles with issues of control. Shot in a small, red room, it's claustrophobic and threatening, compounded by Niederhauser's occasionally violent movement and a few filmic bits inspired by horror films.

One of the central images are keys, as many as 1,500 of which are eventually used as props in the film. "That was a big one," Niederhauser admits, "the idea of keys entering or penetrating the body, both against the will of the character, and also when the character's unaware of it."

In one segment, Niederhauser collapses to the floor as though exhausted and asleep. Suddenly, keys start appearing all around her, crawling up her face and into her mouth. She awakes gagging and vomiting keys. It's simple stop-motion animation, but it's effective and demonstrates part of the appeal film has to dancers and choreographers.

Several years ago, Niederhauser began collaborating with Kasulke through opportunities at the NW Film Forum. Dance film has long been a major part of European experimental film, but in the US it's been a minor trend except in Seattle over the last decade, where it's commonplace. And almost every conversation about dance film here leads back to Kasulke, whose cinematography for Lynn Shelton's Humpday has earned him wide exposure in the last year.

"He really has a good eye for following movement, and a really good instinct as to where energy is going to travel in the body next," Niederhauser said. "So, a lot of camera people, when they follow dance, will kind of back up, to try to get the whole picture—which you totally need sometimes! But he's also really good at just being able to follow the energy line."

Niederhauser credits the Film Forum, along with 911 Media Arts, for most of the resurgence of dance film, as well as creating new opportunities for her as a dancer and choreographer.

"I think there's a really amazing film community here that is open about working in experimental forms, that is open to working with dancers, that's open to working with women," she said. "I think we're very lucky to have organizations like Northwest Film Forum and 911 Media Arts. I think it's kind of scary because I think they're both kind of struggling right now, everyone is. But one of the reasons there are so many dance films is there are these organizations that make it possible for people with little experience and not a huge budget to have the help and resources that they need."

Kasulke also filmed her newest work, still in post-production, called Tracings. As for Niederhauser, she can next be seen performing with Degenerate Art Ensemble in Sonic Tales next month at the Moore Theatre.

RESUME

Choreographic Experience

2010 stifle Northwest New Works at On the Boards, Seattle, WA

2009 stifle: Every Breath Is Victory MLK Move, Urban Grace, Tacoma, WA and Flight Deck Showing, Open Flight Studio, Seattle, WA

stop loss collaboration with Spencer Moody for Spin the Bottle, Annex Theater; Seattle WA.

economy of force collaboration with Spencer Moody for Artopia; Seattle WA.

Once a Thing is Set in Motion collaboration with Spencer Moody for 10 Tiny Dances, Annie Wright School, Tacoma WA.

2008 Suppress, solo for Monolodge6, Annex Theatre; Seattle WA.

Peloria Linnaria Vulgaris, solo for 12mm, On the Boards; Seattle, WA.

2006 Josephine Says “Hi”, solo for 12mm, On the Boards; Seattle,WA.

2006 Tough Bubble, 3 dancers/models in collaboration with hipposchemes, Urban Artworks; Seattle, WA and Ladyfest; Olmypia, WA.

2003 Universal vs. Unilateral, 8 dancers, Dance Blast: Curtis High School; University Place, WA.

Filmmaking Experience

2009 Tracings, choreographed, directed, performed, edited and produced.

2008 Treed, improvisation, screened at Northwest Film Forum Excquisite Corpse and Couchfest, Seattle, WA

2007 Holding This For You, choreographed, directed, performed, edited and produced. screened at: Napolidanza Italy, AAS Japan, One Reel at Bumbershoot Seattle, WA, Local Sightings Seattle, WA, Sao Carlos Videodance Festival Brazil, Festival Internacional de Videodanza de Chile, Festival International de Video Danse du Breuil, France.

Performance Experience

2010 stifle Northwest New Works at On the Boards, Seattle, WA

2009 Here/Now improvisation at Open Flight Studio, Seattle, WA

2009 Sonic Tales with Degenerate Art Ensemble, Moore Theater, Seattle, WA.

2008 Myth of Me and You, choreographed by Maureen Whiting, ACT Theatre Seattle, WA

2008 Myth of Us, choreographed by Maureen Whiting, The Lee Center, Seattle,

WA.

2007 The Daylight (re-staged in 2009), choreographed by Alex Martin, Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks Park; Kent, WA.

2006 We Never Like Talking About the End, choreographed by Dayna Hanson, On the Boards; Seattle, WA.

2006 There Ain’t No Easy Way Out, choreographed by Zoe Scofield, On the Boards; Seattle, WA.

2006 The Invisible, choreographed by Jessica Jobaris, The Chamber Theater; Seattle, WA.

Awards

2010 Associated Program of Shunpike

2010 and 2008 4Culture; Seattle, WA, financial grant for stifle and tracings.

2010 and 2008 smART ventures; Seattle, Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, financial grant for stifle and Holding This For You

2009 Flight Deck Residency at Open Flight, Seattle, WA

2007-2008 Northwest Film Forum; Seattle, WA, fiscal sponsorship and equipment usage grants for dance films; Holding This For You and Tracings.

Education

1998-2002 Cornish College of the Arts; Seattle, WA, BFA in Dance