Visit at VA Puget Sound

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!

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/

If I had died these photos wouldn't exist

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

TRACINGS DECEMBER 3

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.

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

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.   

PSKS Outreach Day

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!

!!ArtsLaunch!! 10/25 8 pm

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

"Holding This For You" Premier at Local Sightings

"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

Handmade Prop Jewelry

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.

Photos from "Tracings"

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"

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

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.