ELIZABETH YOCHIM
LIVE PERFORMANCES (SELECT)
ESSENCE
Art Meets Architecture at The Fine Arts Building, Los Angeles, California
Essence explores the intersection of sound, movement, poetry, the art of Stefano Panichi and the architecture of the Fine Arts Building in downtown Los Angeles. Featuring the following artists: Jahna Perricone, Soprano; Kate McCallum, Soprano; Don Norman, Poet; and Elizabeth Yochim, Dancer. The live performance piece was directed and produced by Elizabeth Yochim. The film was directed and edited by Todd Felderstein. Essence was presented through a collaboration with Lisa Ames of Art Meets Architecture and Curator Anna Dusi.
Photos by Dan Dolinh @dandolinh
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE
Edinburgh, Scotland
A larger-than-life blue egg cracks open on the Royal Mile, and an all white figure appears. A winged creature in training, she explores how to grow her wings, members of the audience help her learn how to fly and find her wings. Flying in formation select audience members and the Angelbird see one another take flight.
Photographs Don Norman @don_nor_man
LOVE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: THE GREAT AUK & THE ANGELBIRD
Nomadic School of Wonder, Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada
The great auk (Pinguinus impennis) is a species of flightless bird that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus. Not so long ago, the northern seas were full of great auks. Research finds that the extinction of this flightless bird was completely our fault and due to their friendly nature and our excessive hunting of their kind. Legend has it that the great auk and the angelbird had a great but secret love affair. There is a waypoint along the coast of Fogo Island where the two will appear and disappear. But when and how their spirit's awakening is determined by the right number of human beings, landing on the the right ley line, calling out fervently for their spirits to return for a dance before they both fall back into their slumber of death. Photographs by Josh Rubin @joshrubin
fALL FORWARD: An Exploration of Language and Light
Yarger Projects, Los Angeles, California
Produced and directed by Elizabeth Yochim in collaboration with Don Norman, Poet; John Tegmeyer, Clarinet; Katie Malia, Dancer; Charlotte Smith, Dancer; Shana Betz, Reader; and Walker Babington, Reader. This live performance piece commissioned by Yarger Projects, Los Angeles.
Photographs by Todd Felderstein @toddmakesphotos
ANGELBIRD
Hollywood Fringe Festival, Los Angeles, California
Angelbird is a live, solo performance combining visual projections, movement, storytelling, and the singing of poems and hymns, inspiring audiences to remember the redemptive power of familial love. In flocking formation the audience looks to the sky, feeling the sense of their own wings, and takes flight.
Photographs by Michele Mattei, www.michelemattei.com
STORYTIME
stARTup LA, Venice, California
The Flight of the Angelbird is a live, solo performance featuring multiple characters that speak through gesture, movement and spoken word telling the tale of a little girl who finds the courage to fly into her dream with the help of an unexpected ally.
Photos by Mido Lee @midoleephotos
THE ART OF WALKING UPRIGHT
Nomadic School of Wonder, Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada
Live performance and folk dance experience created through the exploration of the theme The Art of Walking Upright. This ceremonial performance is based on concepts of sustenance and regeneration as celebrated throughout the ancestral lands from whence came the original settlers of Fogo Island.
Photographs by @nomadicschoolofwonder
TAKE FLIGHT
80th Anniversary of Union Station, Los Angeles, California
“Union Station has captured the spirt and soul of Los Angeles and has emerged as a vital portal to the promise of the California dream.” Since 1939 people from all over the world have flocked to Los Angeles and made their way into the city via Union Station to pursue their dreams in the City of Angels. The spirit of this performance will exemplify that journey and be an ode to these individuals and their families that have passed through the halls and corridors of Union Station as a portal for their dreams to take flight.
Photographs by Dan Dolinh @dandolinh
Photograph by Jobi Manson
WOMAN BIRD HORSE
Meet the Mustangs, The Nomadic School of Wonder, Ivins, Utah
I wait until Marcia, the head trainer, arrives at the edge of the corral. I turn the latch and step through the gate. I’m wearing the off white, embroidered dress that I bought downtown Rome to replace my costume that was lost on a one-hour Al’italia flight from Palermo to Rome. I’m barefoot. Just before the performance started I took off my Danskin sandals. I wanted to feel the dirt of the red rocks of Southern Utah underfoot and in between my toes. I begin to walk the perimeter of the corral counterclockwise. Just as I had witnessed the horse walking the perimeter earlier when one by one we entered the corral to work with a horse named Star.
“Point to the right.” Marcia said. If it works the horse goes right. “Now point to the left.” Again, if the non-verbal indication is clear the horse goes left. “Now walk beside the horse and focus all of your attention on the hind legs and try and get her to run.” I’m walking next to Star, I feel my eyes squint, my stomach muscles tighten, the tops of my thighs grip as I “try” to communicate “RUN” to the horse. But Star continues to walk. Marcia offers softly, “Imagine you are running. Increase the intensity. Feel it inside. Focus that energy on the hind legs.” Nothing. I’m walking beside Star starring down her hind legs. ‘I’m a dancer for god’s sake’ I say to myself and think about how I sense and project my energy out onto the street all the time. I try again. And just when I feel as though I cannot breakthrough she starts to trot.
Photographs by The Nomadic School of Wonder @nomadicschoolofwonder and Jobi Manson @jobimanson
THROUGH THE VEIL: LETTERS TO THE DEAD
Every time the bird takes off, it's a leap
Dear Dad,
It’s Saturday morning. I wake up at 5am then 6am and I text Anna to take a walk. Signals get crossed and she comes to me and I go to her and we miss each other in the middle. I walk to LA Live and back and get ready for yoga. Just get to yoga. Just get to Julian’s class. I go, stretch, breathe, release. After a sleepless night I can feel my body rest and I fall dead asleep during shivasana. Back home the tears return, the fully body ache, the numbness, and I put myself to bed and cry. It’s about noon. I can’t remember what happened next but at a certain point I begin to put my costume on, do my make up and hair, and wait for my friend Richard to come by. He does, we pile into the car with the wings, and he turns to me and said oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I saw you veiled. And I think oh yeah, my veils. The veils that I worked with in the video piece, the veils that I wore to Four Larks, that Ena and Tova helped me get ready and we played in the veiled sack together and they hugged me for it. I grab the veils, having to return to the house a second time for the billowing sack and we are off. Richard has prepared the soundtrack, David Bowie’s Lady Stardust, Moss, and Lazarus. He shares that he listened to the Heroes soundtrack on an hour commute the other day and wept thinking and releasing the thoughts of the artist that he thought he never became.
We arrive, park underground, and walk up to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Every time the bird takes off it’s a leap.
Love, Elizabeth
Photos by Richard Anthony