We can no longer entertain
the dreams of industrialized consumption,
as we are suffocating ourselves.
I am planting the seed of a new singdancing company.
Introducing ASCEND:
A Singdancing Company 2020!
ASCEND stands for A Singdancing Company Entertaining Nature’s Dreams. A Singdancing Company is not just a dance company and not just a vocal ensemble. It is a group of musical athletes, who provide an example of health and harmony. A Singdancing Company celebrates what we share with animals.
ASCEND is a company of singdancers whose intention is to motivate humans to cherish nature: our ecosystems, forests, animals, water, air, and our own bodies. Throughout humanity’s history we have struggled against nature to survive, but in the new millennium, the battle for survival is no longer with nature, but with our own consumptive needs, to preserve our environmental nest. Founder, choreographer and composer Vanessa Nowitzky acknowledges the depth of that paradigm shift, turning the tide with grace, thoughtfulness, and compassion. The natural world inspires Vanessa to create singdances that remind people of its beauty and wonder. She wishes to attract financers, collaborators and company members for the ongoing presentation of projects by ASCEND.
Ashland is a rare oasis of nature in southern Oregon. Vanessa works with eco-conscious, vegan singdancers who willingly live in southern Oregon, rehearsing work that can be performed at or near the sites of threatened areas, on video, and in concert halls on tour throughout the world. Singdancers must be able to sing a cappella, in harmony, one on a part, while dancing modern dance. Some training provided. Contact Vanessa for more information.
In singdancing, I allow movement to affect vocalization, and I compose music based on those effects. I am at heart a composer with a new performance technique for the human voice. An improvisatory approach allows any sounds to come out, enabling one to become deeply familiar with the relative effects of movement on the vocal apparatus. With this integrated foundation, I create choreography in conjunction with composition of musical themes.
I choreograph and compose singdances that remind people of the beauty and wonder of the natural world. I also improvise singdance at sites I believe need spotlighting. By expressing the spirit of nature, I want to motivate people to cherish animals, nature, and our own bodies. My slogan, “Sing the Body!”, means to honor, express and uplift the physical experience in its endless forms most beautiful in order to manifest heaven on earth via compassion, and applies equally to the humanimal and all species throughout our planet and the cosmos, as understood through science, empathy, and our shared senses.
~Vanessa Nowitzky, artistic director
A Singdancing Company
photo by Sangye Ince-Johannsen
singdancing 