ellen godena

Biography

Ellen Godena is a New York City-based choreographer and movement artist. Her work is informed by on-going studies in Japanese butoh and western dance forms and formal training in the visual arts. She considers movement to be a distillation process, an on-going effort to define the essence of human and inanimate forms. Often described as movement-based installations that explore a range of states and conditions in nature, Ellen's numerous solo and group projects have been presented at venues throughout New England and New York. Deborah Butler, curator of the Boston Butoh Series said of her recent work, Phloem, “Ellen transformed herself into particles of nature, animal forms and reflections of the human psyche…her presence was startling and very moving and beyond human.”

Though she has been dancing for most of her life, butoh is the primary movement influence in Ellen's work. She was first seduced by the obscure japanese dance form in 2000, after viewing a stunning performance by movement artist Jennifer Hicks at the Boston-based artists' collective, Pan9. For the next two years, she devoted herself to studying and occasionally performing with Hicks at Mobius in Boston. In 2002, Hicks introduced her to Master butoh artist Katsura Kan who was auditioning dancers for his critically acclaimed traveling work, Curious Fish. She was fortunate to join the cast as a member of his Saltimbangues troupe and perform in Fish that Spring. There she met fellow cast member, Deborah Butler, who became her next mentor, life-long friend, and collaborator. Butler founded the Kitsunebutoh troupe in 2003 and for the next several years choreographed a series of majestic outdoor butoh installations and theater pieces in which Ellen was honored to perform. During this time, Ellen augmented her studies with international artists Hiroko Tamano (San Francisco), Su-En (Sweden), and Diego Pinon (Mexico).

In 2006, Ellen relocated to New York City where she has trained and performed with the Vangeline Theater in butoh ritual mexicano, and continued to choreograph and perform as a solo artist. Ellen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master’s degree in Psychology from The Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Collaborators

Ellen has collaborated with artists from many disciplines to create work ranging from short projects to ongoing performance series. Currently, she and musician Max Lord co-curate ZeroPlan, which explores improvised collaborations between experimental musicians and dancers whose work has been influenced by butoh. The series launched in February 2007 and has continued with performances in Boston and New York City. ZeroPlan aims to provide seasoned artists an opportunity to create on-the-spot works with other artists in experimental settings. She and Lord have also collaborated on several smaller works for performance.

Improvisation forms the basis for much of her work and she has enjoyed generating spontaneous choreography with other movement artists, most notably Deborah Butler and Nathan Andary. She has worked in this same vein with musicians including cellist Matthew Everett, the duo Bowed Metal, vocalist Ajda the Turkish Queen, and electronic musician Tim O'Keefe. Other artists whose talents have proven invaluable include costume designer Lia Cinquegrano and graphic artist Yvonne Blanco. For several years she has worked with technical director Andrew Anselmo, whose engineering skills have saved many of her shows. Currently, Ellen has been working on projects with photographer and dancer Florence Poulain.

Photos

Full size press photos are available on flickr.