THE STORY
My name is Paula Josa-Jones. I am a choreographer, performer, author, activist, and the artistic director of Paula Josa-Jones/Performance Works. For the past thirty-five years,I have been creating dance theater with my collaborators, including dancers, horses, actors, composers, musicians, set, lighting, costume and projection designers.
RIVER/BODY is an expression of what matters most to me at this time. This dance is about the intense and immediate way that our bodies and the body of the earth are inseparably intertwined. We are water bodies living on a water planet. RIVER/BODY is about awakening the compassionate heart of that relationship.
We live on a water planet: 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. We are water beings: 60–70% of the human body is water. Our once casual relationship to water and often unconscious relationship to our own bodies are co-mingled in the growing social and ecological crises. RIVER/BODY is our response to the global “rising tide” of water-related concerns and connects with all of the “water-is-life” efforts around the globe. We want to make dance - the precious vulnerability of the moving body - an essential part of that conversation.
RIVER/BODY asks how our bodies and that of the river are connected. How does the continuous coming and going of the river waters parallel our own short lives? What are our own wild currents? What is the heart of the river, the mind of the river and how are we a part of each other?
![]()
I grew up in Minnesota on the Mississippi River. As a child, that river felt huge – remote and unknowable. Now I live on the Housatonic River in Kent, Connecticut. I walk along this river, drive next to it during my commutes; listen to the trains traveling the river corridor at night. This river feels intimate, sensual. The Housatonic and its relationship to the rivers of my childhood – the water that I am and the water that surrounds me - inspire me powerfully at this time.
The Housatonic - named “usi-a-di-en-uk” meaning “beyond the mountains” - is wild and turbulent in some places, bucolic in others, running from Pittsfield, Massachusetts to the Long Island Sound. Besides its extraordinary beauty, the river has a troubled history, involving the unregulated dumping of toxic chemicals by General Electric upriver, which continues to affect the entire river habitat, including fish, frogs, turtles, and waterfowl. The river waters upstream are still contaminated. Further downstream, the PCB’s are held in the silt of the river bottom and the banks.
![]()
When I first entered the river last summer with dancers Amy Wynn, Sandrine Harris and Aislinn MacMaster, I had no idea how powerful and emotional that experience would be. Almost immediately, we felt ourselves in an intimate, even tender relationship with the “beingness” of the river. Then a friend sent me this beautiful water story by Lakota artist and activist Pat McCabe, and I understood that as we moved with the waters, we were feeling the very consciousness of the water. For more about that, watch this video by Bernd Muller.
The worlds that will merge in the course of this project include artists, natural resource conservation people, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, students, lovers of art and dance - anyone who appreciates or interacts with the river. Our idea is to create shared audiences through the intersection of diverse interests at various sites.
RIVER/BODY is a performance project in the tradition of National Park "artists on the trail." We see ourselves as artists-in-residence on a water trail, participants in the river and its contingent communities and ecosystems. Each time we enter the water we are dancing between two states, solid and fluid, present and transient – allowing ourselves to be transformed as we invite the audience to experience the river as an "open-ended being with [its] own inherent spontaneity and active agency." (David Abram)
![]()
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
DANCE: Dancing in the river is very different from dancing on a stage, or even a grassy lawn. There are the slippery rocks, the fallen logs, the continuous, persuasive current. Entering the water, we are blending our bodies with the body of the river - allowing ourselves to be danced by the waters. Every performance is unique and shaped by the river on that day.
SOUND/MUSIC: We have invited musician/percussionist John Marshall and actor/vocalist Evangeline Johns to join the performance. Student performers with improvised vessels for carrying and pouring water will be an accompanying “Water Orchestra.”
VISUAL DESIGN: Costumes will wrap and extend the bodies of the performers, integrating layers of dyed and painted fabric with natural materials such as leaves, branches, bark, and mud.
AUDIENCE: For some performances, we may invite the audience to join us in moments of sounding and moving - to deepen our shared fluidity and relationship to the river.
TIMELINE
We will premiere RIVER/BODY in August 2018, taking place in Northwest Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. Sites include the Housatonic River and several tributary rivers, including the Shepaug and Ten Mile Rivers.
WHAT WE NEED
We must raise $9500 to get this project afloat. Our total budget is $30,000. In addition to approaching foundations, we are reaching out to you, in large part because of the ongoing uncertainty of funding for state and local arts organizations. We have received a small grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation but must match that several times over. Here are some of the production costs that your donation will support
- paying dancers, musicians, performers for rehearsals and performance
- paying our costume designer for design and construction
- developing and printing educational/engagement materials for our work with schools
- graphic designer for publicity materials and web design
- printing of posters and publicity materials
- travel costs for participating artists
- permits and fees for rehearsals and performances at various sites
- transportation for underserved communities including youth and elders
THE PERKS: Here’s are some of what you could get:
- A big thank you and your name in social media news about the project
- An invitation to attend a rehearsal
- Tickets to the premiere
- Tickets for the Premiere and After Party
- An elegant t-shirt with the RIVER/BODY design
- A downloadable link to the RIVER/BODY video.
- A signed photograph by Pam White
THE IMPACT: you make a difference!
We want this project to be inclusive!!! We all have to become a single ecosystem – organized like a body, moving like a river with a common purpose to make a difference as residents of the shared earth. Your donation in support of RIVER/BODY is a way to join that purposeful effort.
RISKS, CHALLENGES & SUPPORT
This is an ambitious project, one that demands coordination with many partners and communities. The river can be unpredictable, and its conditions will determine what we can and can't do. Cleaning the sites, creating opportunities for underserved populations to participate and attend performances, working within the limits of school budgets and curricula are all part of the challenges we face.
Oh the other hand, we have enthusiastic regional partners with deep knowledge of the river and the surrounding communities. They include:
If you can't make a cash donation, you can still help.
- Get the word out to your social media worlds.
- Remember to use the Indiegogo share tools, and let us know what else you need to spread the word effectively.
- Offer to help us! Tell us what your skills are.
- Reach out to your friends with cash.
