COH eNsemble
Creatures of Habitat
• physical poetry ensemble •
combines ritual, word, image and motion to create holographic performance pieces.
Entry from habitat (de)fragmentation
2008-present
habitat (de)fragmentation
premiered in spring 2010
presently readying for shows in Brattleboro, VT & Philadelphia.
A collage of seven physical poems that investigate spaces that divide and connect. Four women highly influenced by a psyche we share with nature launch the viewer into a holographic transformative journey using choice substances -darkness, dance, declaration, impression, and light- reclaiming the rites formerly known as passage.
with performers
Kalei Carlson, Karen Lee, Lita Lundeen-Setchfield and Stefanie Weber
and featuring
The Little Wheels
and other special guests
directed and conceived by Stefanie Weber
music by Frederique Trunk + Lance Monotone
video by Ben Pender Cudlip
Costume support from Catherine Diebold/Ruckus Muckus Originals
all photos courtesy of Monika Pizzichemi
widows walk from habitat (de)fragmentation
2005
Reintroduction to the Wild: Trio for Two
Addiction, relationship, self-sabotage, abuse and substance. Sometimes it seems as though the substance is the invisible partner in the dance. Leading. Just when you thought there were two sides, you realize it’s really a triangle that boxes you in.
An exploratory lab piece created with performer Karen Lee in collaboration with Gabrielle Senza’s RADALDA residency with the Storefront Artist Project. Additional creative input by Dawn Meltzer. Shown as well at Dance New Amsterdam in Manhattan as part of the WIP series.
Some of what was discovered choreographically in this piece has been utilized for habitat (de)fragmentation
Oschun Exuvia, the dress
Summer 2004
Oschun Exuvia: an interactive exorcism
Represented as a bride, the character Osunita, sheds her socioexoskeleton at the altar. She is leaving her larval stage, leaving the water and thus leaving behind all polluted ideals. An “eco-feminist” reaction, Oschun Exuvia aims to creatively express the contagious connections between the oppression of the feminine and the contamination of the Earth.
Created in collaboration with artists Melanie Virgilio & Monika Pizzichemi
Premiered at RIVERMASS at St Stephen’s Church in Pittsfield, MA.
Exhibited at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in September 2009 for the JUMP! exhibit and The Artists of 28 Renne Ave.
Available for exhibit.
Oschun Exuvia, the slip remnants and the other side of toxic
Spring 2004
CRUSH: the object of one’s attachment
we often pace unknowingly through personal + cultural seductions.
3 performers enter a scene via melting under a backdrop curtain and play out the parts of a well-known, yet rarely explored habitat.
2 seemingly identical live electric guitar players on swings speak in the many tongues of fluid tone and groove.
Completed for the March Hare Dance Festival In Lenox, MA
Performed at THINK TANK in Pittsfield in June.
Crush, March Hare Dance Festival, Lenox 2004
2001-2003
Indicator Species: installation and performance works inspired by the habitats of nest, womb and earth
A ‘chapbook’ of physical poetry pieces developed over a 2 year span through the Field’s FIELDWORK process. Public showings: MASS MoCA (North Adams), Whitewave at DUMBO + WAX (Brooklyn), Dancespace Center (Manhattan), Wildlife Sanctuary (Florence, MA) and The Storefront Artist Project (Pittsfield).
Created in collaboration with Melanie Virgilio (silk) & Monika Pizzichemi (nest)
with additional musical contributions by Aimee Gellinas, Basaam Saba & Sherry Haines-Salerno
Sound engineering by Bruce Knowlton (recorded) and Don Harris/Day Mountain Sound (live)
Performers: Karen Lee, Justine Willey and Stefanie Weber
viewed alongside the exhibit Womb Work with Empty Set Project Space
Indicator Species: Delivery (photos courtesy of Monika Pizzichemi)