What's New?
(seeking collaborators)

The early part of this year has been an important time for ideas to to incubate. In Scapegoat Garden's January e-newsletter, I made you aware of our plans to collaborate with Mano Preto, Artistic Director of Cape Verde's internationally acclaimed Raiz di Polon. I am excited to announce that this project is, in fact, becoming reality. I was recently awarded an Artist Teachers Fellowship from the Surdna Foundation which will fund my September stay in Cape Verde. This initial stage will include rehearsal, creative research and works-in-progress showings of the developing work. In February of 2009, Mano Preto will travel to Connecticut where we will bring the new work to completion, prepare for performance and provide community workshops. In mid-February the Dance Repertory Ensemble from Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts will perform in their own evening of dance, inspired by the creative process developed through my collaboration with Mano.

In Mano's work, one can witness a fascinating integration of Cape Verde's traditional dance and music forms, history of slavery, colonization, struggle for independence and its resulting cultural pride, with the free expression, movement invention and theatricality characteristic of contemporary dance. Raiz di Polon's broad cultural expression will come together with Scapegoat Garden's commitment to process, collaboration, and interdisciplinary work in "Prazer em conhece-lo (Pleased to meet you)". I look forward to exploring the intersection of our contrasting experiences, places of origin, native languages, and approaches to a shared objective.

From the beginning, we have been eager to expand our relationships with collaborators beyond the company's existing ensemble. The vision for this upcoming choreographic collaboration has grown to include the need for a composer and live musicians. Scapegoat Garden has tended to use an eclectic mix of recorded music to create dense, ever-changing aural environments for its pieces. In this case, I am seeking a composer who is capable of, and interested in experimenting with the lyrical quality of traditional Cape Verdean music forms, creating environment through sound, manipulating sound electronically, and exploring the layered, driving pulse of popular music. In the context of live performance, the vision includes a live guitar and live electronic manipulation. It is all very much open to discussion. If you, or someone you know is interested in engaging in this discussion and the possibility of joining the collaboration in this capacity, please respond via email.

In the meantime, we ask you all for your continued support and invite you to stay tuned for Scapegoat Garden events as the year progresses. And please continue to make contact, via email as I believe making connections within our community are always vital.

Until we next meet face to face . . .

~Deborah Goffe

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. . . our blog http://blog.myspace.com/scapegoatgarden

and our book featuring the photography of Jennifer Cormier. . .

Studies in Empathy

by Scapegoat Garden

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