LYMENTATION
A MULTICHANNEL FILM
COLLABORATION WITH TORI LAWRENCE & CO.
SOUND BY
lym·en·ta·tion
/ˈlīmən ˈtāSHən/ noun
the expression of grief or sorrow brought about by chronic lyme disease
"scenes of lymentation"
The writing, images, and films in this project are deeply personal. They reflect the aches and pains of an existence underscored by chronic illness. Sharing them comes with a certain amount of resistance because I’m still uncomfortable with them myself. But creating them was the only way I knew how to alchemize my grief.
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COLLABORATORS
Tori Lawrence is a choreographer, filmmaker, and educator who creates site-specific multimedia performances and dance films. Her recent screendance projects have been filming and hand-processing super 8mm and 16mm analog motion picture film. Her environmentally-based work inspires an imaginative and sustainable way of looking at, thinking about, and using space. She's currently collaborating with San Francisco-based choreographer Sara Shelton Mann on a new performance installation set to premiere in 2021. Tori has been a dance lecturer at Middlebury College, the University of Kansas, and a guest artist at Franklin & Marshall College, Wilson College, Drexel University, and Connecticut College. She’s been awarded residencies and fellowships at Yaddo, Djerassi, Chez Bushwick, Ucross Foundation, Charlotte Street Foundation, Dance Ireland, and Budapest’s Workshop Foundation. Her projects have been funded by New England Foundation for the Arts, Dance Films Association, Vermont Arts Council, and Lighton International Artists Exchange.
Originally from the Midwest, Ellie Goudie-Averill is a dance artist and educator who works with dancers of all ages on technique and performance. Since graduating with her MFA in Dance Performance from the University of Iowa, she has served as a professor at Temple University, Bucknell University, the University of Kansas, Franklin & Marshall College, and Connecticut College. In the past, she has danced professionally for Susan Rethorst, Lucinda Childs, Bronwen MacArthur, Group Motion. Ellie is a regular collaborator and dancer with Tori Lawrence + Co. in dance films and site-specific works and has been with the company for seven years. She currently teaches at Keene State College and at the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought/Hawley Street Ballet in Northampton, MA. Ellie's dance reviews and other dance writings have appeared online at thINKingDANCE and BAC Stories.
Nick Haas is a Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard. He is currently stationed in Philadelphia, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in Joint Professional Military Education through the Naval War College. As part of his active duty service, Nick also serves as a Japanese interpreter, most recently on board the CGC MELLON and CGC OLIVER HENRY. Prior to joining the Coast Guard, Nick was the owner and operator of Singapore's only American dive-bar-meets-karaoke joint, Skinny’s Lounge. Nick is also passionate about serving the local community outside his work obligations. He’s spent many years as a volunteer fireman and is an associate board member on the William Penn Foundation. While he has not professionally pursued it, Nick has a lifelong love for film and photography. He studied filmmaking at the New York Film Academy and photography at Bennington College, where he received his B.A. in 2010.
film stills by Tori Lawrence