Josephine's Echopraxia

Josie at The Henry

2011-11-14T01:22:00.000-08:00

Josie E. has been invited to show work at The Henry (5th Ave NE & NE Campus Pkwy) as part of the Carolee Schneeman Symposium: Streaming in From the Moon , on 11/19. I go on shortly after 7pm, beginning on the Cascaiding Stairs and moving to the Fuses exhibition room. Please follow the action or you will miss it. Don't be shy! I will be doing a site specific version of an idea I've been kicking around and I'm calling it Fugue. Here is a preview image

Another iteration of it will be performed in December's 12 Min Max at On the Boards (100 W Roy) Dec 11 and 12 at 7

[[TROPHY]]

2011-07-20T20:35:00.001-07:00

I will be creating a site specific dance, physical sculpture and video installation Saturday, September 24th, at The Hedreen Gallery at Seattle University’s Lee Center for the Arts, located at 901 12th Ave as part of their NIGHT CLUB series.

The event will begin at 7:45. Please arrive on time as audience members will be led on a small tour starting from the Hedreen Gallery. This is a free community event. For more information please email josephinesechopraxia@gmail.com

This is a very exciting opportunity for J's E as the event is specifically designed to bring the school's students out as a way to not only see new art but get to know working artist's. After the performance the audience is invited for an all-night SLEEPOVER!

Josie is doin it for the kids!

Also, I am pretty excited to touch back with some material presented during my Project: Space Available residency http://marissaniederhauser.blogspot.com/2010_09_05_archive.html

I will be further exploring manipulation and ownership in gender relations bringing in fresh research into Hitchcock Blondes, visual framing as dismemberment, substance abuse as a method of control and drowning as a parallel for identity erosion.

JOSIE at SAM REMIX 6/3

2011-05-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Mercy is a Warrior will be performed at SAM REMIX!

June 3

8:45 in the lounge, 9:30 and 10:45 in 3rd floor galleries

1300 1st Ave

http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/calendar/eventDetail.asp?eventID=21408&month=5&day=3&year=2011&sxID&WHEN

Pictured: Tobi Nussbaum and Marissa Rae Niederhauser

photos by Carlos Melgoza http://anima-nocturna.blogspot.com/

tracings at SIFF

2011-04-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

The time/date has been released

tracings will play Thursday May 26 at 9:30

in the Alternate Cinema Shortsfest

at SIFF Cinema in the Seattle Center

More info: http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=44394&FID=206

Mercy is a Warrior

2011-04-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

From a recent photo shoot for Mercy is a Warrior.

Photo by Carlos Melgoza http://anima-nocturna.blogspot.com/

Thanks to http://www.inscapearts.org/ and Sam Farrazaino

SIFF

2011-04-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

Wonderful news tracings will play SIFF!

http://www.siff.net/festival/index.aspx

May I suggest?

2011-02-02T01:38:00.000-08:00

While I would never want a world free of intelligent review and critique I think it is sad that critical analysis is our default mode for viewing art. I know it makes us feel like we are an informed insider to be able to dissect and knockdown a piece of art but I find it heartbreaking and think that in doing this we, as audience, rob ourselves of being able to sit inside the creation.

A humble suggestion, occasionally suspend your disbelief and accept a work of art as you would a birthday gift. Even if it isn't exactly what you might buy yourself, it hardly matters. What matters is that someone took the time, energy and thought to give you something that they hoped you might gain some benefit from.

I think this is where most artists come from when offering up the fruits of their labor, so why do we insist on putting up so many barriers to our own connection with a work? What are we depriving ourselves of when we insist on pulling the wings off of everything we see in order to determine if and why it can/not fly?

I am not saying we should watch every thing in this manner for the rest of our lives. I just think it is a nice experiment to try in hopes of gaining fresh eyes. Remember when you first went to the theater (gallery, record store…) and everything was mind-blowing? Don't you ever mourn the loss of that perspective? I do.

Art is a gift.

Sometimes it is ok to just say thank you when someone gives you a gift.

Visit at VA Puget Sound

2011-01-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the veterans and Anne Peterson at the Beacon Hill VA Puget Sound. We had a charming visit.

Highlights include meeting Jack who used to be a ballroom dancer AND played drums in a husband/wife band when swing dance drove ballroom out of fashion. You could see it in him too, long limbs and a certain presence even with his age.

Another bright spot was a sleepy vet that wandered right through the middle of the dancing to get to the coffee on the other side of the rec room. It was such a nice reminder that dance doesn't always have to be this precious thing pedestaled upon a stage but is really just another simple part of life.

As soon as I got home I got a nice note from Anne thanking us for our performance!

On a more serious side the experience let me to some further contemplation on the role of arts in the world. Upon first arriving at the hospital I feel shame. Who do I think I am trying to make a DANCE of all things considering mortality, loss struggle. Here I am youthful and ridiculously able-bodied in comparison to the residents, living a fairly sheltered existence.

Who do I think I am????

Of course none of the vets or the staff were thinking this. They are pleased that we have come, they are enjoying it. And I come to terms again as I have over and over with the truth that it is ok to be who you have become. Not everyone should be a doctor or a soldier and not everyone should be a dancer, and that is ok. It is ok that life places each of us in different roles. I am what this life has presented me, just as they are. I don't take issue with them for fighting wars that I don't believe in, they don't take issue with my years of plies and tendus and futile acts of movement.

They are happy to see us. Instead of guilt, I will feel happy to be seen.

I have a right to tell this story even if I am most likely farther from it than they. We all have a right to it. We all end up in it. We all have to watch those around us enter into it. It is OUR story. I just happen to have been placed in a position where I can tell the story. They were in a position to patch wounds or to fight and sadly to kill, but they rose to meet what they were given. I am in a position to be seen. I have a forum to 'speak'.

Maybe sometimes the graceful thing to do is to put aside our private neurosis, to not shrink humbly away on account of our own insignificance, but to do whatever thing we have been given with as much dedication and integrity as we can muster.

Maybe seeing a thing through is an honorable thing, regardless of what path you have stepped onto.

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

2011-01-04T17:21:00.000-08:00

Josephine's Echopraxia

is excited to be participating in this year's

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2011: Seattle

One Night Only!

Friday January 28th, 8pm

On the Boards, Merrill Wright Mainstage

100 West Roy St, Seattle WA, 98119

Tickets $15 http://www.ontheboards.org/special-events/award-show

or call 206.217.9888 Tue - Fri • noon - 6pm

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! is an experiment including dance audiences in the usually closed door process of arts funding, an acronym (Artists With Audiences Responding to Dance) The A.W.A.R.D. Show! gives audiences (along with a professional panel) the opportunity to award one deserving choreographer a $10,000 grant and two runners up $2,000.

Josephine's Echopraxia is excited to have another chance to dance upon On the Boards' beautiful and expansive mainstage. We have further developed our work from Northwest New Works and are bringing you the next chapter, Saying goodbye again and again and again and again… [stifle] While excited to be a part of this innovative performance and granting format we are focusing our energy on the truest expression of where stifle needs to go next instead of focusing on the competitive aspects of the show.

We would be honored if you would join us to take in these developments. Saying goodbye again and again and again and again… [stifle] will bring you performances by Marissa Rae Niederhauser (dancer and choreographer), Spencer Moody (musician and composer), Allie Hankins, Meredith Horiuchi, Meredith Sallee and Rosa Vissers (dancers) and Cameron Elliott and Eric Fisher (musicians).

We hope you will join us for this intriguing evening of dance that includes performances by Waxie Moon, Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre and tEEth with a Q and A and vote after the show.

To help bring Saying goodbye again and again and again and again… [stifle] to The A.W.A.R.D. Show! please make a gift securely online at

https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=30857. I have partnered with Shunpike, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, as our fiscal sponsor. This means your donation to Josephine's Echopraxia and Shunpike will be tax- deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

For more about The A.W.A.R.D. Show! please visit http://www.joyce.org/about/special_events_awardshow.php

Major funding for this program has been provided by The Boeing Company.

Saying goodbye again and again and again and again… [stifle] made possible in part by a grant from 4Culture and a smart ventures grant from Seattle’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Developed in part during a Flight Deck Residency at Open Flight Studio and at MLK Ballet.

Josephine's Echopraxia is an Associated Program of Shunpike http://www.shunpike.org/

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

2010-12-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-04T23:56:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-09T21:36:00.001-08:00

Photos from the breakdown of P:SA residency

GASLIT

2010-10-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

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

TROPHY

2010-09-08T01:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-05T00:55:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

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

Press Information

2010-06-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

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

Project: Space Available

2010-06-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

Up next for Josephine? I am the luckiest girl in the world and have been given a chance to be in residency for 2 months in September and October 2010 at Project: Space Available http://projectspaceavailable.com/ founded by the generous and fabulous Vanessa DeWolf and Monica Mata Gilliam. P:SA is smack in the middle of Seattle's Capital Hill and I will have unlimited 24 hour access with my only restriction being that whatever I do I have to be able to return the space to the state I found it in when I am done. I don't even have to be a dancer if I don't want to. Though, it is unlikely I could totally divorce myself creatively from dance. Please stay tuned to hear more about it.

Dance Church

2010-06-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

this is where i go to pray

A Word on Survival

2010-06-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

stifle is strongly sourced from thoughts on survival and competition. While in art it can be fascinating and beautiful to see an individual fighting for their life, we hope to never have to witness such a thing in real life. Sadly many of us will. We should be prepared for it, just in case. We, as humans, have a responsibility to protect, support and care for one another. In my preparation for this performance I decided I needed to get trained in CPR. I heartily encourage you all to do the same. Don't let someone die in front of you. Here is a link to red cross classes in Seattle

http://www.seattleredcross.org/show.aspx?mi=4022

or find your local chapter by typing your zip code here

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=58d51a53f1c37110VgnVCM1000003481a10aRCRD

This is the 'International Symbol of Choking'. Know it, use it, recognize it, respond.

Please come see the show Saturday and Sunday June 5th and 6th 8pm on the mainstage

http://www.ontheboards.org

Pictured left to right: Marissa Rae Niederhauser, Allie Hankins, Spencer Moody. Photo by Tim Summers.

Northwest New Works Preview

2010-05-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

We had our Northwest New Works preview at OTB yesterday. It was good to have a small audience which in addition to OTB staff and other performers included dance presenters from France! Check what Julian Martlew, OtB’s Sound Technician and musician/bloggerFarfetcher had to say about our NwNW preview! http://farfetcher.blogspot.com/2010/05/tinyrage-in-morning-embracing.html

Cameron cut himself on and bled all over the piano- I think this blood sacrifice can only bring us luck!

And our rad drummer Ryan Crase took these cell phone pictures of the warmup and me trying to announce what we're about to do.

If I had died these photos wouldn't exist

2010-05-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

If I hadn't brushed up against death- they wouldn't exist either. It is a fine line.

Top Photo: Tim Summers Others: Ryan Crase

Thank You VA Puget Sound!

2010-04-14T21:45:00.001-07:00

This morning Spencer, Allie and I did a short and casual performance at VA Puget Sound. The audience started small, but curious passerby soon crowded the hallways to peer in the window. They were a kind and pleasant audience and it was such a nice experience to dance with the intention of just creating a soft and gentle diversion. Obviously this is not my interest for most performance creation, but for this beautiful sunny day it was perfect to dance sleepy lullabys for smiling elderly.

Rehearsal Photos for stifle

2010-04-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

Our drummer Ryan Crase has been taking cell phone pictures during rehearsal. They are fun to see so I thought I'd share them.

Above: Spencer Moody (composer, guitar and voice) making some notes.

Above: Cameron Elliott (guitar and Piano)

Above: Spencer and Me (check out my superb fashion choices- now that is style!)

Above: Dancers (left to right) Me, Rosa Vissers, Meredith Horiuchi, Meredith Sallee and Allie Hankins.

Above: Meredith Sallee, Spencer Moody and Cameron's foot at On the Boards

Please support the creation of ''stifle'

2010-03-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

Pictured (fore to aft) Allie Hankins, Spencer Moody, Marissa Rae Niederhauser. Photo by Tim Summers

https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=30857

Josephine's Echopraxia (Marissa Rae Niederhauser) is honored to be participating in the NW New Works Festival this year at On the Boards. I have been joined by four other dancers (Allison Hankins, Meredith Horiuchi, Meredith Sallee, and Rosa Vissers), three musicians (Spencer Moody, Cameron Elliott, and Ryan Crase) and lighting designer Dave Proscia to bring 'stifle' to the mainstage this coming June 5th and 6th.

This is a tremendous opportunity to bring 20 minutes of my choreography to a large and involved arts audience. This is my first time working with a bigger group of performers and it is deeply satisfying for me to see my work translate through others' minds and bodies.

'stifle' is a dance contemplating survival and the grace required of each of us in persevering through difficult and sometimes hopeless times. Although a timeless theme it is particularly apt for a nation at war and in the the midst of deep economic hardships.

I am so excited to be able to work with these amazing artists and to bring the fruits of our labor to the beautiful On the Boards Mainstage. We have the beginnings of something really lovely and I hope that you will find yourself able to help launch this work.

Please consider aiding in the creation of this dance by helping to cover the cost of studio rent, the performers' stipends, costuming and video documentation. A gift of any size is greatly appreciated and is tax deductible and can be easily made online through Shunpike at:

https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=30857

More about On the Boards here:

http://www.ontheboards.org/

The Lowjack

2010-03-02T00:41:00.000-08:00

Hey Tacoma....

Spencer Moody and I are going to be performing

The Lowjack

in your town

March 12th at 7pm and March 13th at 2 and 7pm

at the Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA) Theater 1118 Tacoma Ave

as part of MLK Move.

According to Urban Dictionary a lowjack is: "To have something taken from you by smooth talking or strong convincing. Not as violent or non-participatory as being High-jacked, being lowjacked involves ones own insecure or gullible nature."

photo by Tim Summers from 'stifle' for On the Boards Northwest New Works June 5th and 6th 2010

Look what I found in my google alerts!

2010-02-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

Check out this video of an improvisation I did with sound artist Geist (Michael Sauders, http://www.myspace.com/geistroad and http://www.myspace.com/underspears) at Open Flight's first installment of HERE/NOW www.herenowonline.blogspot.com on 5/16/09.

Yes, I start out a bit slow, and end a bit awkwardly but there is some good stuff in the middle and this was my first experiment of completely open, un-scored performance improv. So- not too bad.

Thanks for watching =)

ps. don't forget you can make a tax-deductible donation to support the creation of 'stifle' showing in OTB's Northwest New Works this June. Just follow the 'click and pledge' link to the right under my profile.

Thank you!

Shunpike!

2010-01-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

I have been granted the awesomeness of becoming an associated program of....

Check out my page on their website:

http://www.shunpike.org/partner-artist/josephines-echopraxia.php

While you are there- check out the 'Click and Pledge' button an easy way to support the creation of 'stifle' for On The Boards' Northwest New Works. It is TAX-DEDUCTIBLE!

About Shunpike

Shunpike is a 501(c)(3) non-profit art service organization whose mission is to strengthen the Seattle arts

community by partnering with small and mid-size arts groups to develop the business tools they need to

succeed. Working in close partnership with these groups, Shunpike helps solve problems quickly and impart

vital skills in finance, organizational management and arts administration.

Collaborative Improvisation with Spears

2010-01-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

I had the lovely opportunity to do an improvisation with

Spears, Michael Sauders, http://www.myspace.com/underspears

during First Thursday Art Walk January 7th

at The Lancaster House of Celibacy- 315 1st Ave (Thanks to Aaron Lugg)

Photos by Jacqueline Portolese of Last Night Blue.

Niederhauser and Sauder improv from Ryan K Adams on Vimeo.

The improv in it's entirety.

Video by the awesome RK Adams http://ryankadams.com/

of Block My Eye http://blockmyeye.com/

Northwest New Works

2009-12-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

Josephine's Echopraxia has been granted with the amazing opportunity to show 20 minutes of work at On the Boards Mainstage June 5th and 6th 2010 as part of Northwest New Works. We will be joined again by Spencer Moody along with 3 other musicians, and Allie Hankins along with 2 to 3 other dancers and a film element shot by Ben Kasulke. We are super excited!

I will be holding an audition for dancers at Open Flight, 4205 University Way NE on Saturday, December 12 from 6-8 pm. Please arrive early to register. Please come warm and I recommend bringing kneepads as there will be a lot of floor work. Also,

Please bring a resume or letter of recommendation or a professional/educational reference and your commitments from January to June 6th 2010.

If you are unable to attend but still interested please let me know and we can arrange something. Email me at josephinesechopraxia@gmail.com and please pass this info along.

Tracings Update

2009-11-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

I would like to invite you to join me for an in-progress screening of excerpts from my upcoming film Tracings. This film is coming together beautifully and I am eager to share it with you all.

Please join me Thursday, December 3 at 7:00 pm at Northwest Film Forum on 12th and Pike. I will also screen Holding This For You afterwards for those who have not had a chance to see it yet, or would like to see it again.

A suggested donation of $3 to $20 would be gratefully accepted at the door, but is not mandatory to see the film. I just want you to come!

I hope to see you there.

All my best,

Marissa

TRACINGS DECEMBER 3

2009-10-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tracings, finished or not will screen the evening of Thursday, December 3rd at Northwest Film Forum probably around 7. Stay tuned or email josephinesechopraxia@gmail.com for details.

To whet your appetite here are some stills taken from the film (camera by Benjamin Kasulke) and one picture of the crew and myself taken by my momma.

Pictures from Stop Loss

2009-10-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

Performed at Annex Theater 10/2/09

Top two photos by Ian Johnston, bottom two by Tim Summers. Guitarist is Spencer Moody.

stop loss

2009-10-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

As I prepare to perform 'stop loss' tonight at Annex theater. The following things are on my mind.

The hopelessness of the individual in the face of unfathomable evils such as war and exploitation. We have no rational, productive means to fight such terrors. Our most widely used tools, those of information and communication continue to fail us... what are we left with? Superstition, including ritual, religion, and art-also art as a discharge of pent up emotions, and hope. These flimsy amulets are all we have.

"Stop Loss" as simple as "Got Milk?" Setting oneself up in opposition to loss in all of it's forms- not against only the violence of war, but also the violence of illness, of accident, the violence of mortality.

Against loss.

The one thing that is pointless to oppose because it is unstoppable is the only thing really worth opposing. Does that pointlessness mean we give up?

No.

Irrational hope is all we have to keep us in forward motion until our final loss eventually comes.

Locked!

2009-10-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

I finally locked the edit on my upcoming film Tracings. I am so excited to have finally reached this point and am gladly handing it over to sound designers Steve Barsotti and Jake Perrine and composer Jason Staczek. The pictures above are from the shoot. In the background of the top one you can see Ben Kasulke and Dave Hanagan working with the camera and of course that is me in the foreground hydrating. The bottom photo is a detail of the set. These lovely photos were taken by the PA Michelle Henley (and stolen from her facebook!)

I will be having an 'in progress' screening December 3 at Northwest Film Forum.

This weekend on Friday October 2 I will be performing 'stop loss' (which is a reincarnation of 'economy of force' which itself was a reincarnation of 'once a thing is set in motion') with Spencer Moody at Spin The Bottle 11pm Annex Theater at 12th and Pike. Should prove to be an all around raucous evening.

Upcoming August Shows

2009-07-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Josephine's Echopraxia has 2 shows this month. One in Tacoma and one in Seattle. This summer I have been developing a new work that I am calling 'stifle: Every Breath Is Victory' with dancer Allie Hankins (all-is-on) and guitarist Spencer Moody (Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death and Murder City Devils as well as owner of the Anne Bonny-http://theoldanneb.blogspot.com/)

I am super excited to work with these two tremendously talented artists and all around wonderful people.

'stifle: Every Breath Is Victory' came about when synchronistic experiences in my life all revolved around the same topics of powerlessness, suffocation and the persistence of hope and the daily triumph of mere survival. First was the tanking of the national and global economy, watching everyone around me kiss their dreams goodbye and struggle to feel like they were even keeping their heads above water. I was heartbroken and baffled hearing one of my closest friends express feelings of meaningless in her life compared to the sort of life I was building when she lost all of her savings. All the while I had been feeling like I was drowning, the impossibility of trying to rise above as an artist with the whole deck stacked against you. I was working as an elementary school janitor trying to pay off filmmaking debts and frustrated at watching my talents slip down child-size toilets. In addition I was also volunteering at Feral Cat Spay and Neuter Project (http://www.feralcatproject.org/) an incredible organization that not only 'fixes' entire feral cat colonies but provides them with stabilizing medical care and also provides low-cost spay/neuters to low-income pet guardians. While working there one day a small kitten died, suffocated on vomit. I watched 4 veterinary professionals trying to save the kitty, working even several minutes after it had passed on. It was a horrifying shock to watch what should be a preventable death be completely unpreventable despite the dedication of knowledgeable and qualified persons . To observe the wheels of fate unhaltingly grind forward and then inspiring to watch the mourning staff and volunteers soldier on providing care and compassion to the dozens of other cats still waiting for treatment. A week later during a performance where I was eating a viscous substance on stage I aspirated some of it and was unable to breath or to cough it up. Standing on stage in front of an entire audience all eyes on me I was more alone than I ever had been in my life. Looking out I saw a mix of reactions, some fear and concern, but also mirth, distrust and annoyance. Post-modern art has yanked their hearts around so much no one can trust their eyes anymore. I placed my hands in the 'international symbol for choking' but it was my own body that eventually came heroically to my rescue. My diaphragm leapt into my throat, sending a thick, metallic taste into my mouth and my lungs filled with painful, burning air and then I finished the dance. Covered in a cold sweat a sticky drool on my chin. With complete apathy towards the quality of my performance or the cough that shook the rest of my time on stage- in complete rapture at my own survival and the fact that I could be DANCING, following my dream.

I hope to be able to develop this work more fully in the next year, but I have been granted two wonderful opportunities to show you what I have come up with since June.

I am very pleased to be performing at the gorgeous Urban Grace church in Tacoma at 902 Market Street (www.urbangrace.net) as part of MLK Move #12. MLK Move is a benefit for MLK Ballet, a tuition-free dance school (http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Org/136901-254) The show is on Friday, August 14 at 7:30 with tickets for $14.

I have also been honored by a Flight Deck residency these past few months (http://www.openflightstudio.org/flightdeck.html) at Open Flight a beautiful studio run by good people on the Ave here in Seattle. They are hosting an informal showing and discussion on Sunday, August 23 at 4:30. Open Flight is located at 4205 University Way NE and it is FREE!

ARTOPIA

2009-06-16T00:09:00.000-07:00

Josephine's Echopraxia is pleased to be performing at this year's Artopia in Georgetown http://www.artopiaseattle.com/ The show is Saturday June 27 and we will be performing at 5:30 on the Intiman Stage, 5790 Airport Way.

I will be dancing a duet called 'economy of force' with Spencer Moody on electric guitar. The dance first appeared as 'Once a Thing is Set in Motion' part of a recent installment of 10 Tiny Dances in Tacoma. Rosemary Ponnekanti said this of the dance in The News Tribune 'Other highlights were Marissa Rae Niederhauser....pulling tense and violent moves from shaky fingers'.

It is an awesome duet, amazing to be working with the powerful musical force of Spencer, a friend said it sounds like a 'dangerous combo' in a good way and he may be right!

Stay posted for a show of group work 'stifle: Every Breath is Victory' in Tacoma August 14 and an informal showing of the same work here in Seattle at Open Flight August 23rd where J.E. is honored to be in residency this summer.

Monolodge 6 at Annex

2009-04-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

Preview photos of my dance at Annex opening this weekend as part of Monolodge 6 by the Unicycle Collective. (photos by Ian Johnston)

Lineup includes: Mary Purdy, Kelleen Conway Blanchard, Mark Siano, Seth Rosenbloom, Christa Bell, Keith Hitchcock, Kate Smith and Chris Bell.

Show runs Fri 4/24 and Sat 4/25 11 pm, Sat 5/2 11pm, Sun 5/3 8 pm, Fri 5/8 and Sat 5/9 11pm at Annex Theatre 11th and Pike. Tickets $9 ($5 students and seniors) through www.brownpapertickets.com

All solo performances on the topic of "Love's Tangled Web"

It has been an interesting challenge restaging the piece at the last minute to con form to the demands of performing on a rug. It has led to some fine developments. Come see the result!

Upcoming Shows!

2009-04-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Come see these great shows I have lined up for J.E.

I am presenting a short solo called "Stifle" in Monolodge 6 "6 original solo performances, 6 takes on Love's Tangled Web". I am superexcited about Monolodge because I get to swim with the actor fishes for awhile.

Annex Theatre- 1100 E Pike St, Seattle.

Friday 4/24 11 pm

Saturday 4/25 11 pm

Saturday 5/2 11 pm

Sunday 5/3 8 pm

Friday 5/8 11 pm

Saturday 5/9 11 pm

I will be participating in Here Now "Eight dancers/movement artists and eight musicians/sound artists are contacted, show interest, and agree to participate. The sixteen participants arrive one hour prior to performance time to solve their individual technical issues... and to receive a brief program orientation from the curators so that the evening goes as relatively smoothly as possible... In one hat is placed the names of the dancers/movement artists. In another hat is placed the names of the musicians/sound artists... A random individual from the audience pulls a name from the dancer/movement artist hat and reads it aloud. Another random individual from the audience does the same from the musician/sound artist hat. the two participants are then given eight minutes to improvise together."

This is a frightening and exciting challenge for me as my process does not really involve improvisation.

Open Flight Studio- 4205 University Way NE, Seattle.

Saturday 5/16 7 pm $8 Suggested

A one night stand in a very small space at 10 Tiny Dances "An experiment in confined space, this is a performance series dedicated to fostering inventive dance/performance art and providing an accessible performance experience for a diverse audience... all on a 4 by 4 foot stage." This is intriguing for obvious reasons, but it is also a benefit for Tacoma's awesome MLKBallet tuition-free dance training. Other performers are MLKBallet The Company, Tacoma City Ballet, Harbor Conservatory, and Ezra Dickinson.

Annie Wright School- 827 N Tacoma Ave, Tacoma 98403

Saturday 5/23 8 pm $20

8@8 Tacoma 3/30

2009-03-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

Come to Tacoma to see 8@8. I will be performing a short solo "Stifle" along with the work of 11 other artists.

"Open to all art forms, 8@8 is a platform for artists of any discipline to try out their work in an informal setting. This is an excellent opportunity to see what artists are doing in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Each artist gets a maximum of 8 minutes to show new material. After the show there is an opportunity to give and exchange constructive feedback to the participants."

This 8@8 includes work by Rhonda Cinotto/Paula Peters, Jeanne Douville, Ron Gilbert, Amanda Herman, Dayton Knipher, Tracy Schreiber, Luke Smiraldo, Katie Sticker and Rosa Vissers in addition to myself.

Monday March 30 at 8 Pm (doors 7:45 Pm)

Barefoot Studios

1604 Center Street

Tacoma, WA 98409

Tickets $5 at the door (cash and check only)

www.barefootcollective.org

Hand Crafted 'Holding This For You' Merch on Sale Now

2009-01-25T00:36:00.000-08:00

The following items are made out of props used in the film 'Holding This For You'. I've included an asking price, but if you like something-make an offer! These are all handmade by me and proceeds will go directly towards the post-production costs of my current film project, 'Tracings'.

These are limited run (of 10), signed dvds of the film. Materials used in the one of a kind packaging include medical gauze used in the costuming and keys and single-edged blades (filed down and safe to touch) used as props that littered the dance floor in the thousands.

Only 4 dvds left!

close up to show detail

all 4 dvds
asking price $30 each

These are wristcuffs (gender-free jewelry!). Each is made of re-purposed materials in addition to featuring a prop from the movie. Or.... feel free to email me your wrist size and design preferences and I will custom make you one.

A single-edged blade sandwiched under shimmery translucent ribbon. (xxsmall)
asking price $20

Ok, this one isn't made out of anything from the film, but it does have a piece of film prominently featured on it. (medium)
asking price $10

These both feature keys that my bare little feet danced upon in the movie. (medium-large. pink or green stitching.)

asking price $15

The following are originally intended as chokers, but others have used them as hair accessories, wrist bands, bookmarks, and wall hangings.

Three single-edged blades used as props and re-purposed pointe shoe ribbons (from my ballerina past) in pink and blue.

asking price $35

Single-edged blade, decorative metallic stitching (hot pink) and recycled pointe shoe ribbon (peach).

asking price $20

Blade, pointe shoe ribbon, accent ribbon.
asking price $25

Blade, pink pointe shoe ribbon, light blue accent ribbon. (note: this ribbon does show the wear of being stitched to a shoe.)

asking price $8

The edgiest ;) earrings money can buy.
asking price $5

Special Orders Welcome!

Payments can be arranged through paypal, if outside of Seattle. Shipping costs as needed will be in addition to agreed upon price. Thanks for taking a look.

End of year gift to Art! :)

2008-12-17T00:41:00.000-08:00

I set up a new paypal account. Donations can be made by clicking on the "Send Money" tab and entering the email address josephinesechopraxia@gmail.com
Thank you!
Marissa

PSKS Outreach Day

2008-11-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday the 19th I spent a delightful afternoon with some of the staff and clients from the non-profit Peace for the Streets by Kids on the Streets (http://www.psks.org/about.html). I showed them "Holding This For You". They had smart and thoughtful questions and comments. And then we made wrisbands together using the props from the film as embellisments. Everyone seemed to have a nice time. One even said, "This is the best art project we've had in a really long time!" YAY! Thanks PSKS!

Please Join Me 11/23

2008-11-10T17:03:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and associates,
I am very pleased to be hosting a screening of my first film "Holding This For You". This is a culmination of a few years of hard work by a group of very talented individuals (please see below). I would be honored if you can join me Sunday, November 23, from 3:30-5:530 PM at Northwest Film Forum. Located at 1515 12th Ave, Seattle 98122. The film will show at 4 and will be accompanied by refreshments, a slideshow preview of my upcoming film "Tracings", and a silent art auction. Admittance is a suggested donation of $8-$20 at the door. I hope you can make it and please forward to anyone who may be interested.
Thank you very much,
Marissa

Collaborators for "Holding This For You" include:
Benjamin Kasulke
Jason Staczek
Vinny Smith
Caoimhe Doyle
Courtland Premo
Tania Kupczak
Curtis Taylor
Alicia Graf
Ella Marie Gray

Support for "Holding This For You" in part from the Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and produced in association with Northwest Film Forum.

Collaborators for "Tracings" include:
Benjamin Kasulke
Dave Hanagan
Michelle Henley
Nathan Hadley
Adam Rasmussen

Support for "Tracings" in part from 4Culture and produced in association with Northwest Film Forum

Thank you to Northwest Film Forum for the use of their theater as part of their Progress in Works grant.

Poster design by Christopher Hydinger with photgraphy by Kaija Cornett

"Genius is the recovery of childhood at will."

2008-10-20T23:03:00.000-07:00

I heard this Arthur Rimbaud quote today on the radio and thought it quite lovely and true. I would never say I've come close to touching genius but I would say that my best work is done when I am in a child-like state.

The characteristics I identify as a childlike state that are vital to the creative process are:
-unwavering trust in oneself and one's place in the world
-belief that the world is there to support and love you
-curiousity
-excitement
-emotions close to the surface and easily triggered
-easily wounded
-easily pleased
-hungry (figuratively speaking)
-lack of anxiety about the future
-lack of remembrance of the past
-lots of energy
-a total lack of self-judgement
-a belief that that you are important, you matter, someone wants to hear what you have to say
-a high tolerance for "ickyness" or really any uncomfortable situation
-lots of time (needed for contemplation, growth, rest..)
-life necessites provided for (adaquate food and shelter)

I think the list could go on much longer.
Do you have any you'd like to add?

!!ArtsLaunch!! 10/25 8 pm

2008-10-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Please note solo has additional minute and a half of choreography since it was shown at 12mm and includes an ALL-NEW MASHUP! 6 songs in under 6 minutes!

Here's a head's up:
I will be performing a short solo excerpt from my upcoming film "Tracings" at this month's !!ArtsLaunch!! with "makeup" by Dave Hanagan.
Saturday, October 25 8pm (doors 7:30)
The Chapel Space at The Good Sheperd Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave. N.
$5-$15 suggested donation
6 dance numbers
3 musical numbers
2 visual artists
AND
a discussion!

Photos by Dave Hanagan when the solo showed at OTB's 12MM

Vindicated

2008-10-07T00:36:00.000-07:00

Last night my first major work showed for the first time. I sat in the theater watching myself full screen and the 20 minute film felt as long as the three years it took me to produce it. I was so excruciatingly nervous. Who am I to think anyone would be the least bit interested in watching my perspective? Finally the credits rolled and APPLAUSE and even a couple of CHEERS. I felt baptized, atoned, smiled upon by grace. So I want to send a thank you out there. Thank you for accepting what I have to offer.

"Holding This For You" Premier at Local Sightings

2008-09-29T15:05:00.002-07:00

"Holding This For You" will be premiering at the 11th annual Local Sightings film festival at Northwest Film Forum.
Please join me in FINALLY watching this on the big screen. After over three years of work the film is presented as part of a shorts program "Movement in Place"... "an examination of movement and technique" along with 10 other films, some of which are dance oriented as well.

The show is Sunday, October 5th at 9pm at NwFF, 1515 12th Ave. Tickets are available through www.brownpapertickets.com or from their 24 hour hotline; 1-800-838-3006 and are only $6.12 for members and $9.70 general public.

A lounge is open afterwards where you can either spit in my face or congratulate me depending on how you feel about my work. I am so excited to be able to finally push this baby out into the world and hope you will join me for the occasion.

More info about the entire festival at:
http://www.nwfilmforum.org/go/localsightings/

photo credit: Kaija Cornett

T.V.

2008-09-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made my first ever television appearance, a brief calendar spot on Nancy Guppy's Art Zone on The Seattle Channel; cable 21. Although obviously not a pro I think I handled myself ok. See for yourself.

It airs again:
Friday, September 26, 2008 12:00 a.m.
Friday, September 26, 2008 2:00 a.m.
Friday, September 26, 2008 9:00 p.m.
Friday, September 26, 2008 11:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 27, 2008 1:00 a.m.
Saturday, September 27, 2008 3:30 a.m.
Saturday, September 27, 2008 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 27, 2008 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, September 28, 2008 12:30 a.m.
Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:30 a.m.

Or online anytime at:
www.seattlechannel.org/artzone
Just look for the show for 9/25/08

Thanks Nancy!

12 Min. Max

2008-09-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

This Sunday and Monday the 21st and 22nd I will be performing live a short excerpt from my film 'Tracings' as part of the 30th anniversary exhibition of On The Boards' 12 Minutes Max.

This is what OTB has to say about the solo:
"Josephine’s Echopraxia stems from the mysterious choreographic world of Marissa Rae Niederhauser. This solo dance erupts elegantly into moments of meticulous rage then gracefully returns to a simple and sacred state of being."

Dave Hanagan will be helping with a visual art element and I have done my first garageband mix ever... so that I'm not performing it in the silence it was filmed in.

The show is at 7pm and costs $8.
OTB is located at 100 W. Roy in lower Queene Anne.
Come check it out!

Stay posted for these other upcoming events:
My film "Holding This For You" premiers at Local Sightings the first weekend of October.
I will also be performing the same solo from 'Tracings' at Artslaunch, end of October. I'm sure it will have morphed by then, so come see it both times :)

Handmade Prop Jewelry

2008-08-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

I've been making some sellable crafts for a fundrasing event I plan to have later this autumn.
Here is an advance look at some wrist cuffs and choker/bookmarks. They are made entirely out of repurposed materials (lots of pointe shoe ribbons!) and most of them have a prop from the shooting of "Holding This For You" incorporated into the design.

"Tracings" research

2008-08-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

Something that persons outside of the dance community may not know is that most dancemakers do a lot of non-movement research in creating and preparing for the performance of a dance work.

My reading list for the creation of Tracings included:

Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigentic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life
by Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb with illustrations by Anna Zeligowski
Ghost Worlds: A Guide to Plotergeists, Portals, Eco-mist and Spirit Behavior
by Melba Goodwyn
The Knowing Body: Elements of Contemporary Performance and Dance
by Lousie Steinman
A Good and Happy Child (fiction)
by Justin Evans
The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories
chosen by Michael Cox and R.A.Gilbert
True Ghost Stories
Marchioness Townsend and Maude FFoulkes

In addition I did quite a lot of internet reading:

A New York Times bio on Marian Radke-Yarrow "The Anthropological Psychologist" 12/30/07
by Lauren Slater
A New Yorker article; "The Itch: It's Mysterious Power May Be A Clue to a New Theory About Brains and Bodies" 6/30/08
by Atule Gawande
"Brain Basics: Know Your Brain"
from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website
A Telegraph UK article; "Secrets of the Monster"
author unknown
The Stranger's slog comments on Seattle's pitifully impaled pigeons

Additional (unfortunately undocumented) web research on: epigenetics, pre-natal stress, maternal depression, trans-generational trauma, domestic abuse, peloria linnaria vulgaris (toadflax) and Carolus Linnaeus (founder of taxonomy), hauntings especially in the Seattle area, hydrangeas, the brain disorder Kuru found in the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea.

I watched:
a lot of horror (haunting only) films. Some good, some awful.
Fox Sports Network's "Sports Science"
Youtube videos of hockey player Clint Malarchuk horrific accident.

My research also included a lot of free writing, rumination on my own memories and stories told to me by others; including one from my father about when he "cast the demons" out of a troubled young man while on a religious mission in the "deep south" only to have the young man (several years later) go on to decapitate a man on main street over a woman.

Other life experiences that became research include:
I spent time observing and interacting with a tweenage girl.
Went to a wedding.
Mourned the deaths I had been avoiding.
Taught myself to cry on cue. Decided it was too painful to ever try again.
Sorted through my great-grandmothers sewing box with my mother.
Comtemplated the possibility of a guiding hand, a god-like presence.
Observed up close the lives of animals in nature. In particular nest-building and rearing of baby birds.
Made handicrafts and lists.
Experienced deep rage.
Spent time alone.

I compiled a inspirational music mix. The set list is:

Black Eyes and Neckties: Apparition (entire album)
Coco Rosie: Ghost Horse and Stillborn (entire album)
Cloud Cult: Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) (entire album)
Okkervil River: Another Radio Song, Forest, Black Sheep Boy, Garden, Missing Children
Elliott Smith: Bye, Don't Go Down, A Fond Farwell, Can't Make a Sound, King's Crossing, Memory Lane,Ostriches & Chirping
The Mountain Goats: Dilaudid, Up The Wolves
The Flaming Lips: Do You Realize?
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter: Doralee, Reckless Burning
Rasputina: Endomorph, My Little Shirtwaist Fire, Stumpside
The Black Angels: The First Vietnamese War
Neutral Milk Hotel: Ghost
Trailer Bride: Ghost of Mae West, Hope Is A Thing With Feathers, Shilo, Skinny White Girl
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes: (Ghost) Riders In the Sky
Erykah Badu: The Healer
Death Cab for Cutie: I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Soul Meets Body
Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts: In a Haunted House
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir Obsessions
Slowdive: Trellisaze
Tegan and Sara: Walking With a Ghost

Oh, and I did some improvisational dance as well.

Original specimen of Peloria Linnaria Vulgaris from telegraph.co.uk

Photos from "Tracings"

2008-08-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

These are photos from my latest film project "Tracings". Photography credit goes to Dave Hanagan. This is a very small peek at the film. There are several other scenes, but the shooting schedule was so tight we didn't get as many stills taken as we would have liked.

Film shot on location in an 1870's house in rural Riverside, UT at the end of July.

The "Tracings" production crew was:
Ben Kasulke: dp, etc.
Dave Hanagan: camera assistant, etc.
Nathan Hadley: sound op
Michelle Henley: pa, etc.

produced in association with The Northwest Film Forum and 4Culture

Photos From "Holding This For You"

2008-08-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

The following are photos from my first film "Holding This For You". Slated for completion this autumn.
Photo credit goes to Kaija Cornett.

Production Crew:
Ben Kasulke- dp
Courtland Premo- 2nd camera
Curtis Taylor- set construction
Alicia Graf- costume construction
Michelle Henley- pa
Michel Tran- pa

Post-production Crew:
Jason Staczek- score
Caoimhe Doyle- foley
Vinny Smith- sound design
Tania Kupzcak- title design
Ella Marie Gray- violin
Eric Goetz- orchestrator

produced in association with The Northwest Film Forum and the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs

First Things First

2008-08-28T00:43:00.000-07:00

An explanation of the name of the part of me that creates; "Josephines's Echopraxia".

Josephine- a character from Kafka's short story "The Mouse Folk". From Wikipedia (all quotes are Kafka):

Josephine is a rarity among the mouse people, for she has the innate ability to sing. She can not only sing, but she can sing beautifully, helping all the mouse people continue with their hardworking lives. Some of the mouse people dislike her and do not believe she is truly singing, while others gather round to listen to her, use her feeble vocal cords to their utmost strength, and treasure her femininity. Some of the mouse people wonder if Josephine is truly singing, for they wonder if mice can sing or if they simply just whistle? Depending on the position facing Josephine, her music sounds like great piping and sometimes it sounds like true music. At times, she pouts and stammers as a woman, bringing chaos and chatter amongst the people; yet, when she sings, she brings a hush to the crowd, and everyone realizes that she is special. They must protect their dear Josephine, for she is one of a kind.

"Sometimes I have the impression that our people sees its relationship with Josephine rather like this: that she, this fragile, vulnerable, somehow distinguished creature, in her opinion distinguished by her song, has been entrusted to us and that we must look after her; the reason for this is not clear to anyone, only the fact seems to be established. But what has been entrusted to one's care one does not laugh at; to do so would be a breach of duty; the utmost spite that the most spiteful amongst us can vent on Josephine is when they sometimes say: 'When we see Josephine it is no laughing matter."

As time progresses, people feel differently about Josephine and her music, thinking her pompous, thinking her lazy, and simultaneously thinking her a gift to the community. She rarely does her work, yet still gets her daily ration of food. When she injures herself barely, she works even less. No other mouse would be tolerated in the community.

Eventually, Josephine is missing; nobody can find her and everyone misses her music, her piping, and her singing. Yet, after enough time searching, she is lost, and gone forever. Their lives continue as normal.

"So perhaps we shall not miss so very much after all, while Josephine, for her part, delivered from earthly afflictions, which however to her mind are the privilege of chosen spirits, will happily lose herself in the countless throng of the heroes of our people, and soon, since we pursue no history, be accorded the heightened deliverance of being forgotten along with all her brethren."

Echopraxia as defined by www.medterms.com as "the involuntary imitation of the movements of another person. Echopraxia is a feature of schizophrenia (especially the catatonic form), Tourette syndrome, and some other neurologic diseases. From echo + the Greek praxia meaning action".

Yes, it is perhaps a bit tongue in cheek. Half a joke and half how I really feel. This is what I do best, perhaps the only thing I am fit to do. Often, I just can't help myself. A compulsion bordering on disease. I feel stongly I have something important to give and it is the ONLY thing I have to give, but I am well aware it doesn't fill your belly, keep you dry and warm, or set your broken bones. I just hope it can stitch back together the flayed bits of your soul as the art of others has done time and time again for me.