Nov, 10, 2007 @ Roulette, NY

Allison Sniffin's playlist notes:

For many years I have had the joy of working with Ellen who I met in Meredith Monk's Vocal Ensemble (I am the ensemble's music director). One of my favorite mental images of Ellen is her warm-up on the eve of a show, whirling around a stage lit only by workligths, in complete silence, to music coming from her headphones which none of us can hear. I based my musical selections on this image. They also express something of my personal interests and what I have come to understand are my "trademarks": thus Uruguayan songwriter Jorge Drexler croons an interstellar love song in Spanish; my father's 1940-50 musical trio features multi-instrumentalist Wunderkid Adrian Rollini; composer/singer colleague Naila Aziz sings high Q in a brillant Azerbaijanian arrangement; and my friend Alfredo Villela performs Aztec instruments. Interspersing the 4 main selecctions are theremin-laced episodes from Bernard Hermann's 1951 soundtrack. The Day The Earth Stood Still. Special thanks to Alfredo Villela for mix-mastering the CD.

"Mascarada Electronica" 2007 @ Roulette, 20 Greene Street, NY City.

Ellen Fisher
3-6pm
TIME'S UP......Scenes 1-12
Ellen Fisher performs a 3 hour dance / installation work with 12 fifteen minute music segments chosen by various artists. These artists include:
Dick Connette- musician/ composer
Rachel Loshack- musician / composer
Don Voisine / Mark Dagley - visual artists
Gary Graham- fashion designer
Meredith Monk- musician / composer
Suran Song - musician / composer
Hearn Gadbois- percussionist / composer
Theo Bleckman - musician / composer
Nick Brooke - musician / composer
Allison Sniffen - musician / composer
Ching Gonzales - musician / performer
Mimi Goese- vocalist / composer
Fisher will dance for 3 hours using simple props, costumes and visual projections, supported by individually chosen music / sound segments for this project. These combined elements will enhance and contribute to Fisher's unique performance style. The audience is free to come and go within the 3 hour dance/ installation or perhaps stay and experience the enduring transformative powers of music and dance.
Ellen Fisher is a performance artist whose work combines gestural actions with visual components such as film, shadow play, objects and puppets.  She began performing with Meredith Monk/The House in the ‘70’s, in such works as “The Plateau Series” and “Recent Ruins,” and more recently has appeared in “mercy” and “impermanence.”  Fisher’s performance work is informed by ethnographic research in trance dance and rituals of South Asia, particularly Sri Lanka. Since 1981, she has toured solo work throughout Europe and the U.S., also directing large ensemble work reinterpreting myths and legends. Her film work, including documentaries, has been included in festivals throughout the world. She has received funding through the NEA, Art Matters Inc., Jerome Foundation, NYFA and the Asian Cultural Council, winning a 2004 Humanities Fellowship and a 2005 Travel Grant. Fisher continues to teach and collaborate with artists on community intergenerational and intercultural projects, both domestically and internationally.

"Trance is increasingly used as a meta-paradigm and inclusive term for different states of consciousness and what has come to be known as altered states of consciousness. No value judgement on the states is intended." (Wikipedia)