“Liturgy|Order|Bridge” Community Partnerships

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What is the potential of an organized body of practitioners devoted to facilitating the threshold between performance and the rest of life? How might we establish shared (though distinct) responsibilities for the dynamism and consequence of our encounter(s) with one another?

Liturgy|Order|Bridge is conceived as a ritualized public ceremony that invites participation at a variety of levels. Through each facet, the project will activate our intersecting identities, senses of place, and commitments to mutual support. Echoing the church, performance and ritual grows out of the human network. Slowness and intentionality are key modes.

Woven through the performance work developed with core collaborators—Deborah Goffe, Lauren Horn, Abena Koomson-Davis, and Arien Wilkerson—over the course of several years, the culminating phase of the project will include:

  • ATTENTION TO LOCAL ARTS ECOSYSTEMS AND RELATIONSHIPS: Drawing on Goffe’s research in New England arts ecologies, local artists and communities will be gathered in conversations about creating, nurturing, and illuminating local arts ecosystems.
  • THRESHOLD CHORUS: 5-10 (predominantly) BIPOC local movers will be invited to rehearse and perform with the company as co-facilitators of the ritual space
  • LOCAL WISDOM-KEEPERS: Local cultural organizers who are deeply rooted as community connectors may appear in the performance through the ideas they contribute, onscreen presence, or perhaps by leading the audience in an IRL “litany” or “sermon” we will co-create together.
  • PAPER FLOWER-MAKING: Goffe will lead participants (high school-age participants and older) in crafting the human-scale paper flowers that are essential to the environment the upcoming performances of Liturgy|Order|Bridge will inhabit next February. With a little crepe paper, hot glue, and patience, the resulting flowers will be activated by guest and local performers and will accumulate as the project moves from Hartford to Middletown and beyond. While crafting these sacred objects for the project, we hope these workshops make space and time for us to channel our world- and community-building capacities together.

All intended participants—working with the all-BIPOC company—are imagined to be BIPOC community members as well. Any non-BIPOC participants should be thoughtful about their place in the network of this project and of their own arts ecosystems.

UPCOMING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

MIDDLETOWN INSTALLATION

Important dates coming soon.

PAST COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

HARTFORD PROTOTYPE

OPEN REHEARSALS:

  • Tuesday, March 21 (6:30-7:30pm) — Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street
  • Sunday, April 15 (3:30-4:30pm) — Trinity College, Performance Lab, 240 New Britain Avenue
  • Sunday, June 18 (3:30-5:00pm) — Trinity College, Performance Lab, 240 New Britain Avenue
  • Sunday, July 2 (4:00-6:00pm) — Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street

GATHERINGS:

  • Saturday, April 29 (2:00-5:00pm) — Free Center, 460 New Britain Avenue
  • Saturday, May 20 (11:00am-1:00pm) — Free Center, 460 New Britain Avenue
  • Saturday, May 27 (2:00-5:00pm) — Free Center, 460 New Britain Avenue

PAPER FLOWER WORKSHOPS

  • Sunday, June 11 (3:00-6:00pm) — Butler McCook House & Garden, 396 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103

TENTATIVE THRESHOLD CHORUS AND WISDOM KEEPER REHEARSALS:

Threshold Chorus and Wisdom Keepers are welcome to attend any of the full rehearsals found in this complete schedule with the core group to review performance material and participate in the process but are only required to attend the following:

  • Friday, June 9 (5:00-9:00pm) — Trinity College, Performance Lab, 240 New Britain Avenue
  • Sunday, June 18 (2:00-6:00pm) — Trinity College, Performance Lab, 240 New Britain Avenue
  • Sunday, July 2 (2:00-6:00pm) — Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street
  • Thursday, July 6 (5:00-9:00pm) or Friday, July 7 (5:00-9:00pm) — Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street
  • Sunday, July 9 (5:00-9:00pm) or Monday, July 10 (5:00-9:00pm) — CUING AND TECHNICAL REHEARSALS — Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street
  • Tuesday, July 11 (5:00-9:00) — TECHNICAL REHEARSAL — Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street
  • Wednesday, July 12 (5:00-9:00pm) — DRESS REHEARSAL — Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street

“LITURGY|ORDER|BRIDGE” HARTFORD PERFORMANCES:

(Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street, Hartford)

  • Thursday, July 13 (7:00pm) — 5pm call time
  • Friday, July 14 (7:00pm) — 5pm call time
  • Saturday, July 15 (3:00pm and 7:00pm) — 12pm & 5pm call time

About Deborah Goffe

Deborah Goffe is a dance maker, performer, educator, and performance curator who cultivates environments and experiences through choreographic, design and social processes. Since its founding in 2002, Scapegoat Garden has functioned as a primary vehicle and creative community through which she forges relationships between artists and communities—helping people see, create and contribute to a greater vision of ourselves, each other, and the places we call home.
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