passTRESpass short

jennifer odewudia francis, lauretta macauley, maria sankoh stefania sankoh, sandra williams, and the generous assistance and performace of Jennifer Nelson, dimitrios chalatsis, panagiotis andronithis and the Reconstruction Community.

this project was conceived as a collaboration of many artists, activists and communita members. a purose of the work is to pose questions regarding how we negotiate boundaries on the different levels; human relationships, physical space, and cultural practices. as we are confronted with each other's cultures, how can we successfully co-exist and flourish? what do we carry with us? what do we leave behind and how does that effect our environment?

instigated by
the modern dance awareness society
despina stamos, wen-shuan yang and nequi gonzalez

edited by jill woodward

passTRESpass is an interactive, roving, movement installation that addresses migration, sense of belonging, cultural identity and borders. How is the term home defined? Where does cultural identity reside? Where do migrant people feel safe?

I initiated this project after visiting Greece, in August of 2006, where I met Loretta Macaulay of the African Womens Organization. Loretta was interested in collaborating with my performance collective, the Modern Dance Awareness Society, to co-create a project that highlighted the stories and plight of the participants. She was inspired to find a aesthetic and creative way to bring light to the status issues of the African immigrants in Greece. She also told me she wanted to dance. I was intrigued by both her openness and her courage. Her migration story had both similarities and differences to my own. I wondered how place and migration affect the body. I also wondered how new bodies affect their environment. My interest in pursuing and developing this project was further stimulated by my own migration experience, my curiosity regarding the treatment of immigrants living in my country of birth and my interest as a dance artist about bodies negotiating space and boundaries when they are in an unfamiliar place and, how that place absorbs them.

Using the participants personal migration stories to mine movement material, we will co-construct a performance installation in the former Kipseli Market that examines these questions from a physical perspective. Collaborative action leads to creative co-existence. Through the construction of the work we will explore our different cultural realities and find bridges through the building a multimedia structure that is both interactive and transformational

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Entertainment

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