Materadancescapes - Watermark Arts

What is Refuge? Che Cos'è il Rifugio?

Rock churches excavated in the 9th and 10th centuries generally conformed to a Byzantine model, having a rectangular or square chamber with plain walls and behind this two arched presbyteries supported by a central pillar. The rock church of San Canione, better known as San Falcione, is no exception. Attributed to the earliest Italo-Greek monastic communities which settled in the area around the 9th century, it’s one of Matera’s oldest rock churches. Located in a small ravine, it’s easily recognised thanks to the perimeter wall built in the 19th century by the noble Gattini family, who used the cave complex as an enclosure for sheep and goats. Inside the church, where the floor is now lower than its original level, there’s a fresco of Saint Nicholas on the central pillar and one of a bishop saint on the right-hand wall. Still on the right, in the altar recess, there was once an extraordinary fresco of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple: Joseph, Mary and the Child were clearly visible, along with Saint Simeon and the prophetess Anna who blessed Jesus with one hand while the other held a missive with words ‘This Child created heaven and earth’ in Greek. Many small cavities excavated around the church are the remains of a medieval apiary.

Conceived and produced by Elaine Colandrea, Artistic Director, Watermark Arts

Filmed and edited by Prue Jeffries, Creative Director, Watermark Arts

Performed by Elaine Colandrea

Music in 432 hz by Morena Boschetto

Filmed with permission in San Falcione, Parco Murgia Timone, Matera, Italia

Special thanks to ENTE PARCO DELLA MURGIA MATERANA

Special thanks to Maria Teresa Barbaro & Paolo Montagna, Director CEA Matera

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 then crafted the film. Composer Morena Boschetto contributed the musical score. We all worked in close collaboration with each other to share "her" story - a universal story of all who can't breathe, or all who seek refuge...

~ Elaine Colandrea, dancer/choreographer

Filmed with permission in San Falcione, Parco Murgia Timone, Matera, Italia.

Special thanks to ENTE PARCO DELLA MURGIA MATERANA.

Special thanks to Maria Teresa Barbaro & Paolo Montagna, Director CEA Matera.

Chiaroscuro

Conceived and produced by Elaine Colandrea, Artistic Director, Watermark Arts

Filmed and edited by Prue Jeffries, Creative Director, Watermark Arts

Performed by Claudia Catani, Elaine Colandrea & Naomi Walker

Music: Stella Maris by Moby courtesy of mobygratis.com

Filmed with permission in San Falcione, Parco Murgia Timone, Matera, Italia

Special thanks to ENTE PARCO DELLA MURGIA MATERANA

Special thanks to Maria Teresa Barbaro & Paolo Montagna, Director CEA Matera

Naomi Walker

Way home

She unfurled her wings
tender and wise

And beckoned
to me
Come dance

In the belly of the earth
sound echoes
and life never ceases
to pulse

See
how time has crafted
and water has carved
draw sustenance
and find
your ground
over and over
again

Gravity draws me in
faltering flame rekindled

I shall live ‘till I die

Friend, mother, sister
feeling you
so tender and wise
so whole

I found my way home to my self

Naomi Walker
May 2020

Naomi Walker, inspired by unknown Nigerian artist

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.

Filmed with permission in San Falcione, Parco Murgia Timone, Matera, Italia

Special thanks to ENTE PARCO DELLA MURGIA MATERANA.

Special thanks to Maria Teresa Barbaro & Paolo Montagna, Director CEA Matera

Photo Gallery from the filming of Chiaroscuro

EXHIBIT FROM THE FILMING OF CHIAROSCURO

Chiaroscuro
Moving with the day and night, the light and dark, the limestone earth wafting with the fragrance of thyme opens into the soaring blue skies above San Falcione in Matera, as the evening descends the ancient limestone sea bed becomes a cradle for an embodied experience of Unity.

Photography by Prue Jeffries
Choreography by Elaine Colandrea
Performers: Claudia Catani, Elaine Colandrea, & Naomi Walker

BEHIND THE SCENES

In the Heart of the Cave; Nel Cuore della Caverna

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 earths 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 with vocals from Simona Arbizzani & Morena Boschetto.

Filmed & edited by Prue Jeffries

A Watermark Arts project - MateraDanceScapes first in the series filmed in Matera in 2018.

What is Refuge? Che Cos'è il Rifugio?

Chiaroscuro

Photo Gallery from the filming of Chiaroscuro

In the Heart of the Cave; Nel Cuore della Caverna

More Collection Films in progress & will be coming soon.