ELLEN SICKENBERGER
Repetoire
To Catch Running Water (2024)
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Anahi Jimenez, Takela King, Zarina Mendoza, Jennifer Milani, Ellen Sickenberger
Presented at:
Herberger Theater Center's Performance Pop-Up Series at the Outdoor Pavilion Stage (split-bill performance alongside CONDER/dance)
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"You cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it. Indeed, you cannot grasp it, just as you cannot walk off with a river in a bucket. If you try to capture running water in a bucket, it is clear that you do not understand it and that you will always be disappointed, for in the bucket the water does not run. To 'have' running water you must let go of it and let it run." "The more one studis attempted solutinos to probelsm in politics and economics, in art, philosophy, and religion, the more on has the impression of extremely gifted people wearing out their ingenuity at the impossible and futile task of trying to get the water of life into neat and permanent packages."
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Carnival (2024)
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Jennifer Milani, Ellen Sickenberger
Presented at:
Third Space Dance Project's Twilight Fringe at Cambria Hotel Downtown Phx
In The Round at Trunk Space
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As we become enveloped in the cloud of silt we created, 'Carnival' delivers subtle political undertones with imagery of deep ocean hunter/prey, cracking infrastructure, and sedentariness.
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DISCLAIMER (Grand Canyon University Residency - 2023)
GCU College of Arts and Media
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: GCU Dance Department Senior Class, Winter 2023
Presented at:
Ethington Theatre
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This piece observes the corrupt practices of large corporations and the effects on civilians.
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Pluri- (2023)
Creation made possible by nueBOX's SutdioLAB Residency
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Ignacio Jara, Anahi Jimenez, Lauren Jimenez, Zarina Mendoza, Miranda Reeves
Presented at:
Twilight Fringe at Mesa Arts Center, presented by Third Space Dance Project
Work-In-Progress Showing at nueBOX (StudioLAB Residency)
Full-Length Showing at nueBOX (StudioLAB Residency)
nueWORK Showcase at Phoenix Center for the Arts
[Dancers for nueWORK Showcase: Ignacio Jara, Anahi Jimenez, Zarina Mendoza, Jenny Milani, Alexis Montoya, Esteban Rosales, Ellen Sickenberger]
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This eerie piece portrays images of the current crisis of habitual loneliness endured by the human race. Functioning as a mirror to society, “Pluri-“ explores both self-inflicted and circumstance-inflicted isolation via the platform of media.
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Caught (East Carolina University Residency - 2021)
ECU School of Theater and Dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: ECU Dance Department Senior Class 2021
Presented at:
Wight Theater
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Inspired by a work-in-progress (Elude) performed by DEPTH Dance at their informal showing "FOUR-O-SCOPE" earlier in 2021, this piece explores the human nature of concealing and contriving within the deathly grip of social media.
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These Tunnels Breathe (Jul. 2019) [Remastered Nov. 2019]
DEPTH dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Margaret Jones, Lisa Kobdish, Graziella Murdocca, Ellen Sickenberger
Six Degrees of Separation: Becoming - Mark O'Donnell Theatre at the Actors Fund Arts Center
[Remastered dancers: Kristalyn Gill, Sarah Kleinke, Graziella Murdocca, Madeline Robertson, Erke Roosen, Ellen Sickenberger
Soluq Dance Theater's CIRCLE RETURN - Center of Performance Research]
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The cyclical nature of echoes rumbles my bones, sparking each cell with fragments of a life before their own. They loom in a space where once was substance. Each echo is a version of the last; sparse and vague, but present. They fill my chest, linger in my heart, swim around my ears and furrow my brow. In my silence I wait; to be reminded once more; a sweet memory. How much of the silence is you and how much of the emptiness is me? You echo through my vastness; I have become your tunnel.
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The Last Bite (A Sequel to Leftovers) (2019)
DEPTH dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Diane Auriol, Sarah Kleinke, Bonnie O'Rourke, Erke Roosen, Ellie Weinman
Boston Contemporary Dance Festival 2019 - The Huntington Theater (MA)
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This piece serves as a sequel to 'Leftovers'. America has made its bed, and now we get to lie in it.
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Shallow Water (2018)
DEPTH dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Emory Campbell, Margaret Jones, Sarah Kleinke, Graziella Murdocca, Erke Roosen, Thryn Saxon, Ellen Sickenberger
Triskelion's Commissioned Split Bill Series, December 2018
Excerpts:
Christina Noel & The Creature's CREST 2019 - Teatro LATEA
SummerFest 2019 - Triskelion Arts
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Shallow Water is a 40-minute, all-female group piece that disjoints the effects of media and societal norms on women in America. With animalistic and anthropological movement, 7 women endure the stupor of oppression where humor intertwines with drama, and triumphs intertwine with failures. The individual within the collective is exposed, revealing the many double standards that exist for women today. Using spoken word alongside movement, Shallow Water explores what it means to live in a world that is over-connected and oversaturated with information and expectations.
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Leftovers (2017)
DEPTH dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Margaret Jones, Sarah Kleinke, Graziella Murdocca, Erke Roosen, Gabriella Sibeko
Moving Beauty Series 2017 - Hudson Guild Theater - Split Bill performance
Excerpts:
APEX Showcase 2017 - Salvatore Capezio Theater
mouthful. 2017 - CPR
Collaborations in Dance Festival 2017 - Triskelion Arts
C3 CORE Choreo Contest 2019 - Alvin Ailey Studios
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This piece uses imagery of city culture to explore the results of trickle-down information. Functioning as a conversation about current sociopolitical issues, 'Leftovers' is the remains of every idea, opinion, and voice that’s been left to drift aimlessly in the late-night subway tunnels. Hopes and desires hang like grocery bags on barbed wire. Together, we ration our leftovers.
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Refraction (2016)
DEPTH dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Erke Roosen, Ellen Sickenberger
DUMBO Dance Festival 2016 - Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center
Pushing Progress Showcase Series 2017 - Salvatore Capezio Theater
MIXTAPE Festival ATL 2019 - Southwest Arts Center
This piece explores the concept of refraction in an abstract way. What if our medium is our body, and our frequency is what we carry with us? What happens if our medium changes or deceases? When something is refracted, its frequency stays constant. When we see refraction with the human eye, it appears as though something is bent or misshapen. What if a person experiences a life seemingly distorted and wrong? Within the act of refraction itself, how would an outcome be different due to it's occurrence?
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Stacked Matter (2015) [Remastered 2018]
DEPTH dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Mechelle Armbruster, Lisa Kobdish, Erke Roosen, Gabriella Sibeko
[Remastered dancers: Margaret Jones, Sarah Kleinke, Graziella Murdocca, Erke Roosen, Gabriella Sibeko]
TRANSLATE (The Voices of Dance) - Dixon Place
The Intimate Series - Williamsburg Movement and Arts Center
PMT's Seasonal Showcase - Manhattan Movement and Arts Center (2018)
Let's Talk About Love Showcase - Triskelion Arts (2018)
Perception is everything and nothing is as it seems. At our bare minimum, we and our complete surroundings are living molecules that take a specific shape.
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The Plunge (2015)
DEPTH dance
Choreography: Ellen Sickenberger
Dancers: Lisa Kobdish, Terry Mathis, Katie Mattar, Ayaha Otsuka, Michael Ryan
Green Space Blooms Festival - Green Space
HATCH Performance Series
Where is the line between sanity and insanity and who decides? This piece has a backbone image of looking into the eyes of one who is just barely lost; one who is just out of reach. This piece explores psychological disorders and surrounding society as well as subway culture in New York.
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Silt (2014)
DEPTH dance
Choreography and performance: Ellen Sickenberger
Original videos by Charles Dennis / BalaSole Dance Co.
Pastiche - Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theatre
Based on a personally-written poem, this piece explores metaphorical and abstract concepts of silt in one's life.
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