
Thank you for attending the
Premiere of Materadancescapes
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2020
Please join our mailing list if you have further interest and would like updates of this continuing creative endeavour.
JOIN THE CREATORS & COLLABORATORS
Featuring a creative discussion circle from around the world.

From USA, France & Italy
Dancers & Movers Elaine Colandrea, Claudia Catani & Naomi Walker

From New York, California & Australia
Producer, Choreographer & Artistic Director Elaine Colandrea
Photographer, Filmmaker & Creative Director Prue Jeffries

From Matera, Italy, special guests
Matera Cultural Experts & Guides Paolo Montagna & Teresa Barbaro
Three Short Films
- What is Refuge? Che Cos'è il Rifugio?
- Chiaroscuro
- In The Heart of the Cave
A trio of short dance films responding to the canyons and caverns of Matera, a site of somatic retreat in southern Italy, steeped in mythology and human history as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
Q&A with choreographer Elaine Colandrea, filmmaker Prue Jeffries, composer Morena Boschetto, and performers Claudia Catani and Naomi Walker will follow the film.
Special guests Teresa Barbaro and Paolo Montagna will join live from Matera to speak about the distinctive features of the film location.
WHAT IS REFUGE?
A decade ago, I came across a sculpture of a peasant woman that captured my attention. Year after year, I would visit this rendering of a contadina in MUSMA, a sculpture museum in Matera, Italia. Being nearly the same size as each other, on one visit I decided to place myself in her exact position in an attempt to comprehend my fascination with her. Once I took on her form, I discovered her secret.
The secret slowly grew in me over time, eventually becoming the ten-minute dance film, What is Refuge? Che Cos'è il Rifugio?
Filmed in San Falcione, Matera, filmmaker Prue Jeffries, composer Morena Boschetto and I worked in close collaboration to share "her" story - a universal story of all who can't breathe, or all who seek refuge...
~ Elaine Colandrea, dancer/choreographer


CHIAROSCURO
Chiaroscuro, filmed by Prue Jeffries on the limestone landscape of Matera, Italy, is an elemental setting that resonates with my soul. The earth wombs, caves that were once sea beds, cradled Claudia Catani, Naomi Walker and me. ~ Elaine Colandrea
Music: Stella Maris by Moby courtesy of mobygratis.com.
IN THE HEART OF THE CAVE
Filmed on location in Matera, Southern Italy, a Unesco World Heritage site and European Cultural Capital for 2019. The cave town of Matera is one of the earth's oldest civilizations, inhabited continuously since Neolithic times. The landscape of Matera is filled with rupestri, or cave churches, which have drawn spiritual seekers for millenia.
NY based choreographer and dancer Elaine Colandrea, whose grandparents are from the Basilicata region of Southern Italy, performs In the Heart of the Cave. She has taught Continuum in these beautifully renovated earth wombs for well over a decade.
Music: AVE - Composed by Morena Boschetto, vocals from Simona Arbizzani & Morena Boschetto.
Filmed & edited by Prue Jeffries.

