Ocean Body
Song, conversations, and new compositions merge with DeChiazza’s original footage of the two women together and alone in the waters of the Gulf Coast, to create a multi-sensory experience of a place where sand, sun, and water, surround experiences of intense communion and also of profound isolation.
Diptych cinematic imagery makes poignant and visceral the impossibility of an easily shared truth, presenting imperfectly parallel viewpoints that might frame a subject similarly, but will never match. The films depict Davis and Nova interconnected within a sculptural dress built for two, by artist Annica Cuppetelli. Tethered, the two cannot avoid affecting each other, as the actions of one will move, confine, support, or even wholly re-shape the other.
Ocean Body examines the sometimes conflicting needs for union and autonomy within a friendship, and how we continually discover each other in new and transformational ways.
Supported by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Creative Futures fellowship at Carolina Performing Arts, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Composed and performed by — Helga Davis and Shara Nova
Direction and films by — Mark DeChiazza
Embodied Sculpture by — Annica Cuppetelli
PROJECT MANAGED AND PRODUCED BY — Andrea Troolin / Ekonomisk Mgmt
CINEMATOGRAPHY BY — Mattia Palombi
CAMERA ASSISTANT — Shu Hirahyama
KEY GRIP — Daniele Napolitano
GRIP — David Chait
MAKEUP BY — Marco Campos
LOCATION CINEMATOGRAPHY BY — Mark DeChiazza and Mary Kate Huffman
CREATIVE ASSISANT — Mary Kate Huffman
MUSIC PRODUCTION AND ENGINEERING BY — Shara Nova
SOUND DESIGN, ENGINEERING AND MIXING BY — Mitchell Graham
ADDITIONAL AUDIO ENGINEERING BY — Joseph Branciforte and Thurman Woods
MASS MOCA ASSISTANT — Grace Eldred
INSTRUMENTALS — Christopher Bruce, Lydia Cleaver, Earl Harvin, Winifred Garrett, Ahya Simone, and Joel Shearer
CHOIR — Detroit Women's Chorus
ADDITIONAL SINGERS — Jocelyn Zelasko, Jessica Allen, Hanna Benn, Alex Koi, Tamisha Waden, and Shannon Morrison
Team
Helga Davis
(Composer/Performer) is a vocalist and performance artist with feet planted on the most prestigious international stages and with firm roots in her local community. Davis was principal actor in the 25th-anniversary international revival of Robert Wilson and Philip Glass's seminal opera Einstein on the Beach. She is artist in residence at National Sawdust and Joe’s Pub, host of the eponymous podcast HELGA on WQXR, winner of the 2019 Greenfield Prize in composition, a 2019 Alpert Award finalist, and the 2018-21 visiting curator for the performing arts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Shara Nova
(Composer/Performer) is the founder of the chamber pop band My Brightest Diamond, whose latest album was released in November 2018. She has composed works for yMusic, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, Brooklyn Rider, Nadia Sirota and Roomful of Teeth, among others. Her orchestrations have been performed by the North Carolina Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, American Composers Orchestra and the BBC Concert orchestra. Her baroque chamber opera You Us We All came to CPA in the 2015/16 season. Nova is a Kresge Fellow, Knights Grant recipient, and a United States Artists fellow.
Mark DeChiazza
(Director/Film-maker) is a director whose multifaceted practice encompasses filmmaking, choreography, scenic and media design, and installation.
His work has been presented in national and international venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, John F. Kennedy Center of the Arts, Guthrie Theater, Singapore International Festival of Arts, Les Subsistances, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and many more.
He first collaborated with Shara Nova in 2019, when they co-created the massive outdoor music-performance work Look Around, celebrating Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 125th anniversary season, featuring over 600 performers from over 30 local groups.
