WHERE IS HOME

The seed for this project was a series of potluck dinners with other immigrant artists. Trump had just been elected and immigrant rights were threatened. We were all scared, but we came together. It was during our shared meals I realized I needed to make “Where is home” and wanted to be an immigrant leader in my community. In 2019 I performed my first solo performance piece inspired by these conversations. “Where is home : birds of passage” was based on my Italian-American immigrant story. It drew from my life as the daughter of an immigrant who left Italy and became an immigrant myself, and explored experiences feeling embarrassed of my accent and my mother’s accent, and feeling diminished, excotized and disrespected. A dance against cultural erasure, my solo reclaimed the complexity of my immigrant identity.

When it comes to immigration, as an Italian-American immigrant artist I have felt increasing intolerance, fear, and discomfort growing within our communities. I am keen to create work that builds empathy and safety for America’s immigrants, including myself. In response, I began my most ambitious work to date in fall 2018: where is home, a community-engaged dance project, on the topic of immigration, which will culminate in 2022. Through human-centered storytelling, I will investigate the structural racism being perpetuated by the use of stereotypes; using the mediums of narrative, movement, architectural light design, and sound. The project offers an alternative narrative for immigrants asked to perform their culture’s stereotypes. It investigates the structural racism being perpetuated by the use of these labels and the ‘othering’ of immigrants. To complete this work, I will interact with, interview, and engage immigrants from across our nation - building partnerships in New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Huston, Chicago, San Jose, Phoenix, San Diego and Dallas (cities with the highest immigration populations in the US).

Choreographed and Performed - Alice Gosti Production & Lighting Designer - Amiya Brown Composer - Monika Khot Sound Designer - Erin Bednarz Dramaturgy & Text Support - Tim Smith-Sewart Technical Consulting - Jeffrey Azavedo Stage Manager - Maria Manness Company Producer - West Liberty Voice Support - Angel Itechi Lobby Installation - Alyza DelPan-Monley Graphic Designer - Photon Factory IA Crew Members - Mary Heffernan, Robin Lagerstedt, Elijah Vick ACTLab Producing Coordinator - Katie Burnett ACTLab Marketing Manager - Amelia Peacock ACTLab Technical Associate - Brittany Lawrence Special thanks to Case VanRij This show was made possible by the Bossak-Hilbron Charitable Foundation, McColl Center for Arts + Innovation and 4Culture.

third shore unleashes the power of physical stories from immigrants, motivating them to act not as fetishes, but as agents of change. The solos and adjacent programs will examine rupture and displacement, while questioning assimilation as a survival tool and oppressive strategy deployed by settler colonialism and the Americanization process. The project will begin with the creation of four “dance solo tours'' through an INScape Arts residency in Seattle, Winter/Spring 2022-2023. Site-responsive dance solo tours will be created and performed by immigrant dancers in direct relation to significant landmarks in U.S. history. These solos will use dance and movement to disrupt the structure of traditional tours and investigate the immigrant experiences of four soloists from Thailand, Bosnia, Liberia and Indonesia, while integrating the architectural and emotional landscape of the INScape building. To create solos within the former Immigration and Naturalization headquarters, dancers will immerse themselves in its hallways and holding rooms, and interview immigrants who experienced INScape when it was an immigration and detention center. At the residency we’ll also investigate the history, mythology and culturally-specific gestures of dancers’ home countries. Together we’ll construct solos that connect dancers to the collective body of their ancestors while holding space for the memories of those passed through the space. Each performer will lead an audience of up to 10 through an experimental hour-long tour of INScape. Each tour will be unique as the personal history of the performer will be layered in.

To integrate the local immigrant community into the project, we’ll host free small group embodied storytelling workshops with Seattle-area immigrants that will explore assimilation/non-assimilation, the fluidity of immigrant identity, embodiment of stereotypes and expectations of immigrants. We are currently securing partnerships with local nonprofits serving immigrants to collaborate on workshops.

 After the completion of the four performances, we will host a multi-day Immigrant Dancer Exchange for 10-15 dancers from across the U.S. (including Seattle soloists) late Summer/ early Fall 2023. All participants will be paid and the Exchange will follow a mutual-aid structure of sharing and co-facilitating. The Exchange’s mission is to foster a network of immigrant artist role models and provide a space for immigrant dancers to be in process together and envision cities that love immigrants.