Artistic Director
Bio
Deborah Goffe (Artistic Director) is a performer, choreographer, dance educator and video artist. Since earning her BFA in modern dance from the University of the Arts and an MFA in dance performance and choreography from California Institute of the Arts, Scapegoat Garden has served as the vehicle and creative community through which she cultivates artistic innovation, exploring the intersection of dance with other media. She has created video works and sound designs for Scapegoat Garden, the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble (with whom she performed for many years), and the Greater Hartford Arts Council. She has received Artist's Fellowship Grants from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the City of Hartford Arts & Heritage Jobs Grant, and the Surdna Foundation for her choreographic work. In 2010, Deborah was invited to participate as New England Emerging Artist at the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine. In that same year, she served as a yearlong Artist in Residence at Billings Froge Community Works. Deborah has taught dance and related courses in a number of institutions, including Belmont High School in Los Angeles, CalArts, CREC's Center for Creative Youth, Trinity College, and CulturArte - a youth arts summer residency program in Cape Verde, Africa. She is currently on the core faculty at CREC's Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. In addition to her teaching and Scapegoat Garden work, Deborah serves as Dance Coordinator at Charter Oak Cultural Center, working closely with area colleagues to revitalize and re-envision the Greater Hartford dance community through the newly formed Homegrown Dance initiative.
click here to view Deborah's curriculum vitae
Artist’s Statement
I
am a “we” person, and I am growing more and more aware of a power I summon
when I nurture this sense of “we”. The creative process has been most
fulfilling for me when generated within a community of creative individuals
who act as advocates for one another and for the work produced among them. I
have been fortunate to find myself among such individuals and groups
throughout my life, which has motivated me to place collaboration at the
center of my creative process. While I have faith in my ideas and confidence in my
ability to bring them to fruition, I have also found that every artist’s
capacity expands in the presence of other perspectives. The combination of
time, consistent effort applied to unearth each vision, and the commitment of
a creative community allow my ideas to incubate and grow to full size.
I have found
that fusing multiple media within a collaborative process can produce a form
of dance theater that is layered with multi-sensory stimulation, attention to
detail and a deeply physical engagement. Much of popular media desensitizes
the observer through a barrage of images, I look to those same mediums for
their ability to engage and, on occasion, to move, inform and transform in
unexpected ways. I seek the balance between technique, choreographic process,
the integration of theatrical elements, and high production value. In a
culture where strict adherence to one’s assigned labels are encouraged, I
have found it difficult to be both traditional and progressive, process
oriented and concerned with polished end-products, organic and technical.
Ultimately, I am convinced that my unique voice rests in the space between technique,
concept and product. In this, the total theatrical experience, I strive to
soften by heightening sensation and encouraging introspection on the part of
the performer and audience. My desire is that audiences leave performances
more aware than before the encounter.
Fledge: v. 1. to grow feathers required for flying 2. to provide with feathers 3. to prepare for flight, or independent existence
mailing address: 810 Tower Ave Hartford, CT 06112 860.881.9943
deborah@scapegoatgarden.org
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