People/Trees/Here
Main Movers: Ewa Josefsson, Katie Cora Stirman, Jenna Balfe
Audience Movers: Mauricio Abascal, Ganesha Michael Shapiro and Crystalle Caceres
Musicians: Dennis Brewster Fuller, David Alexander Bennet, Doug Webber
Set Design: Bhakti Baxter
Documentation: Monica Mcgivern
Background:
This Performance piece was about healing through finding connection to people, the environment and our general place in this world. Human nature, organic nature, built environment- all are "natural phenomenon" The piece discusses the commonly observed dichotomy between man, nature and built environment and attempts to bridge the gaps through the practice of healing art. These are the three different points of connection that the piece focuses on.
The foundation of movement I work with is contact improvisation- a form of dance that is without a codified technique, but uses concepts of weight share, serendipity and gravity. The physical structure of this forest is perfect for contact improvisation. The roots are multi level and varying width, the branches intertwine and grow all over each other, so when climbing around it is easy to interact with the tree's in a similar way one would doing contact improv with another body. The way you slide and shift weight all come into play, and also the communication with the trees emulates the communication that occurs between bodies. After a while, the movement becomes something other than what you will, it relies on trust and flows on it's own.
The music for the piece was created by: Dennis Brewster Fuller, David Alexander Bennet and Doug Webber, began to rehearse with us in the last month of the practice. They would do some movement practice with us in the beginning and then begin playing music for us. The musician's role was to respond to the narrative and movements of the dancers. While the piece had a definite structure, there was room for improvisation, allowing for a dialogue to occur between movement and sound. Since the timing of each section was approximate, cues from the dancers or musicians would move us through the piece.
This site specific piece was set in the Mangroves- a very special ecosystem to South Florida. Mangroves act as arms hugging in the land of S.Fla. They are barrier island tree's protecting our land from the storm surges and hurricanes. The strand we had been practicing for the last 3 months is a particularly mature forest; some tree are at least 100 years old. During rehearsals, we would spend the first 30 minutes free climbing around the mangrove forest; Getting the energy of the forest and warming ourselves up. We would begin our practice by connecting to the trees as entity's. Listening to their history of strength and braveness- existing in one area growing upwards toward the sun. This act of growing in one spot without question for potentially hundreds of years, to me, represents a higher form of consciousness (I hope to re-incarnate as a tree in my next life for this reason). This is the first point of connection to the land (trees).
The second point of connection is to each other (people). Myself, Ewa Jossefson and Katie Cora Stirman began working together in March of 2014. We met on a weekly basis in the mangroves at Kennedy Park. I wanted our time together to be healing and educational. Katie is a dancer whom studies various forms of energy and body work. Ewa is a Yoga teacher in Miami. Both are amazing women who had so much to share. I framed our time together as being a collaborative learning experience, where I would frame the rehearsal/practice and then Ewa and Katie would flesh it out with their energy and input. Before each practice we would share about our lives and reactions to the world. I would then use the information shared to affect whatever it was I had pre-planned for rehearsal. Over the next 4 months we developed strong relationships to each other. Helping each other to grow and learn. Through this community healing process, the narrative of the piece was built.
The third point of connection (here) is to our urban environment and our general day to day existence. This concept is to me the most important, because it enables a person to be present in our world with nature at every given moment. Whether in the middle of the mangroves or riding the bus, we are always in nature. Being "here" also includes connection to other humans in deep healing ways. This is actually the point where all things meet. In the now. So this third point of connection is where we really bridge this gap I speak of.
Description of the Performance:
For the first 30 minutes we move throughout the forest. The music begins and we over a period of ten minutes make our way to get our large red, blue and yellow clothes that we have each individually hung. The cloth and things we brought into the forest, came from us needing to bring in fabric to cover ourselves to keep the bugs away. They also represented the concept of making a home in nature. We begin our journey from within to begin to express to the audience. We begin to make vocalizations in our own spaces while still moving around the trees and each other. The sounds we made were beautiful, silly and scary and beyond. I jumped into the water and begin to bathe myself (which I had never done in rehearsal) while singing. We were reacting and sourcing from our own guts. We make our way towards each other,become aware of one another. We move towards each other and begin to find a common pitch. We notice one another and make contact. The music is subtle and tribal - inspiring us to be as real as possible. Which of course, in such a vulnerable state is a difficult task. We climb into an area of roots close to the water where we are able to be close and touch. We begin to harmonize our voices in meditation. Once we reach the end of this we separate. I make my way to the edge of the forest to tell my story. I tell a story of hiding chocolate in the crack of a tree on the playground in kindergarden with my best friend. Ewa tells a story of how for the past couple of years she had been in a battle with the natural world. Katie told a story without words, throwing sticks and breaking them, and then realizing that her desire to make noise was hurtful to the tree, and she apologizes, in a way that was very real and poignant. During the stories there is no music, once we finish the music starts again and we exit the forest and enter the audience that is situated in front of the opening to the mangroves on a bunch of sheets. We have been bathed in the energy of the mangroves and we enter the audience approaching are other movers that had been planted in the audience. These movers have been a part of Bodymovement classes and Company- Mauricio Abascal, Ganesha Michael Shapiro and Crystale Caceres. Our intention was to share our energy that was built by the audiences attention to our narratives as we climbed around the forest. We danced playfully with them using contact improv as the foundation of movement. We hope to spread the idea of playfulness and integration of natural world experience with the built/mowed environment. We moved towards the set built by Bhakti Baxter, which represents the built environment. We play with the structures that are interactive- advocating acceptance and integrations. The structures are minimal and open displaying the idea of architecture that is open and inclusive of organic nature. One such structure is a buch of wooden triangles that appear to just be stacked on the floor, but it is then brought to life by pulling arose and bringing it to stand as a triangle tunnel. The piece ended with all of us running off, some of us back into the mangroves and others toward the parking lot, or just into the audience.
After the piece was over the audience lingered around the site. People began climbing in the tree's dancing around or just sitting around and talking. People were speaking about feeling and deeper sorts of thoughts. For me working with so many amazing collaborators and working in a way that was not egocentric- I was able to learn so much about what it was I thought I was saying. At first I felt I was alone in my thinking (more or less) but quickly cam to see that everyone not only understood, but resonated with the idea. They were open to adding their own understandings.
Press:
https://www.facebook.com/events/263321870540464/
REFLEXION/LIVE AT INDEX PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL, MUSEO DE ARTE MODERNO, SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
My work is about being present, healing and sharing life experiences with each other in simple yet profound ways.
Never having been to the Dominican Republic, I decided to do a piece that would enable me to share my initial reactions to this country with the people in attendance to the festival. The piece is based on my current body of work- Movement in Context. Which looks at movement as a practical means of expressive exploration in any given environment. It is about moving for a reason; i.e climbing a tree, moving with/around another person, moving around/with/ontopof furniture in a room with the purpose of being expressive. In this situation, Movement in Context takes on the shape of a roaming physical narrative. I arrived two days before the festival began to give myself time to experience the place and develop a narrative to share. I went around videoing my experiences with my iPhone. I also collected objects and materials during my journeys. For the performance I played the video on a wall of the museum behind me. I dressed as I normally would, carrying my backpack filled with the objects I had collected on the journey. In the video there are some of the objects I collected, as well as the process of collection. I stood before the projection taking objects out of my bag and one by one and dancing with them to re-tell the story of how I found them, and also my reaction to them as objects. Through the process of live re-collection I channeled the greater meaning of my recent experience and purpose of sharing. In this way, the work in it's reflective state, became present and cathartic for me. In the moment of performance I became overwhelmed by a sense of wholeness and unity with the people and the place. I felt the lines of all my recent experiences blur together in the golden brown of my skin. I felt the eyes of the audience listening and charging my understanding.This was the first half of the performance. For the second half I invited a friend from Miami, Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo to move with me live, playing with each other the space and the audience. We hid behind potted plants. danced on each other and around each other, went into the crowd and bumped against people, sang etc. This section demonstrated to the potential for live physical narration. Reflexion/Live is a piece that operates from the perspective that we live in a world that we can and should engage in in a more playful and physical way. Furthermore, Reflexion/Live is working to discover a way that we can tell physical narratives to each other. Returning to our roots as cave men and women but being inclusive of our beautiful and frightening intellects is where the piece is positioned
Lecture at Three Points - October 2013
When: October 5, 2013 Where: At Gallery Diet, 174 NW 23 Street, Miami, Florida 33127
What: A lecture panel with: Bhakti Baxter, artist discussing patterns in nature. Robert E. Griffiths, mathematician who related patterns in nature to the mathematical description of them. Collin Ford of Coral Morphalogic- showed us direct examples of pattern formation in nature via- the corals that they raise and exhibit. Jenna Balfe, dancer/performance artist- gave a movement lecture that focused on the energetic influence of intention on patterns in nature.
The focus will be on fractals, corals, sound and dance among other forces that help determine why things take the shapes and forms that they do. The presentation will provide a diverse range of perspectives given the panel's varied fields of expertise. The closing of the lecture will open up to the audience for questions and answers and further discussion.
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Death
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The Fort (A place to meet friends)
During Art Basel 2011, at the show titled: 3825 N.E 1 ave, curated by Bhakti Baxter, Misael Soto and I embarked on a journey to make a warm place made out of found things (trash) for people to gather in. We gathered the materials from the surrounding area, mostly in a shopping cart bicycle built by a local artis Sleeper. We built a tunnel that guests would have to crawl at times to get through to the larger space. The tunnel was filled with interesting things to look at and play with, including an electric keyboard ( which some people did make music on). Once a visitor got through the tunnel they entered another room that was filled with sheets, posters, driftwood, scarecrows, christmas lights etc.Toward the back of this room was a ladder, naturally inviting a visitor to climb up. Upon arriving, the visitor entered our fort. Filled with pillows, snacks, a record player, finger paint, books about the cosmo's and Misael and I. We wanted to invite people back into that neutral space of childish play. Many visitors commente that they felt very welcome and at ease. A few people felt inclined to tell us very personal stories. Our goal was to make a space that forced people out of their adult Art Basel realities and bring them into a space where they hang out and play with each other. Press: See "Occupy Cave" at: http://swampspace.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html
http://youtu.be/oFxibYZlCj8
Art Live Fair 2012
On October 27, 2012 the Body Movement Class (The End/Spring Break, me (Jenna Balfe) and Mr. Feathers (music) held workshops at the Art Live Fair. We had two workshops and at the end of each workshop participants were asked to use their newly aquired physical information to answer a simple question with their skillz. This quick “answer”was video recorded. click here to see a video!
yes
We explored the concepts such as:
Weight Sharing - We will lightly cover technique that will give movers the ability to share a center of gravity and find momentum to dance. The play of balance and off balance will also be touched upon.
Gesture - Playing with the concept of everyday expression and movements, we will explore and re-contextualize their meanings and use.
Dancing with someone else- Really tuning into another person’s rythym and initiative to move is an art that extends beyond dance... but for the purposes of this small workshop we will focus on trying to listen to our partner as well as inspire their movement.
Sensitivity and awareness skills- This is a group movement oriented workshop. We will play with the concept of telling the same story at the same time as one entity with different moving parts.
Body Movement Class has been an ongoing class since January 2012 (with a 2 month summer break) These workshops were helped by people who had been attending the class regularly. Because of the skills they learned we were able to more easily delve into physical play with the attendees of the workshop. Thank you to: Jean Crystal, Misael Soto, Natasha Velez, Alicia Ziatsu, Patricia Margarita Hernandez, Domingo Castillo, Natalia Sturlia and Mauricio Abascal.
Press:
The Night Club Presents:One Size Fits All: The Frank Zappa Show
On May 12, 2012 I participated in a group show hosted by "The Nightclub", a curatorial series consisting of 12 different one night events intended to create dialogue about art practice. This show, the second of the series was curated by Bhakti Baxter. "One Size Fits All" was a group show with work by: Kevin Arrow, Jenna Balfe, Bhakti Baxter, Autumn Casey, Clint Casey, Dino Felipe, Kool Large, Gean Moreno, Upahar David Neiburger, Daniel Newman, and DJ Le Spam. The premise of the show was essentially to interpret the work or the spirit of Frank Zappa in whatever way each artist felt appropriate. My piece was a series of rainbows "prints" I created by painting rainbows on my rear-end and then sitting on paper.
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Objects Found Dying Trying to Live Again (2007)
This was my first solo art show. The premise was that I would take really long walks or canoe trips around Miami and collect objects that were discarded and then turn them into objects of art over the duration of a month. At the end of the show all of the objects, no matter how desired they were, were to be returned to where they once came (the trash) to continue their journey into pleasant nothingness. This was a commentary on the art object as sacred as well as making a subtle point about the beauty of death. I also made a video for the show and had performances occur during the month I was in the space and at the opening and closing. Dancer Marie Bandres created a piece for the opening and artists Bhakti Baxter and Jay Hines gave a musical performance. Please see website below for more photo's
press: http://www.basfisherinvitational.com/Jenna-Balfe