the repetitive rituals of everyday life

every day dances

often at home

ode to the in betweens

choreography of the everyday

Parents

If you had invented velcro you could say in bed till noon. But you didn’t so get downstairs for breakfast!

I can’t love you any harder.

This transformer is going to be the freaking death of us.

We have to keep all this together so we don’t have to split up and split the boys. / Well if we do I want the top half!

We need some one on one time together….hmm, should i go put on a “negligee”./ I don’t know what that is but if that is some sort of recipe for the kids then yes! do it!

One day when he is 20 we will say, oh I wish he’d call./ And I will still be trying to read this same goddamn sentence of this book!

Do you want me to get you a beer?/ What?! well yesss. Do I want a beer?!! Wait…Are you going to hit me in the back of the head with a hammer or fry pan or something?

KIDS

What are you listening to Mommy?/ Oh, it’s a deep rest meditation./ Ok well let’s turn that off now so you can listen to me.

I don’t care about Oscar’s comma!!!/ It’s Oxford comma

A watched clock never boils

What are you doing?!/ Oh I’m just giving his neck a little hug (with his hands wrapped around brothers neck)

Do you ever wonder why don’t our lips don’t touch when we say touch but they do when we say separate

Does Bob have one “o” or two?

Back nuts= the bum

Buttocks, Street name; rump

Band names: The Workers. The Pooh bears, The Dinosaur Balls, Queen, The bum bums. Wolf Medicine Bum Bum, The Meatballs, The cookie makers,

I know how to put on yellow socks now!/ Amazing! what about redones? Blue ones? / Nope- just yellow

“ We stand on guard for cheeeese”

He’s checking his list checking it twice. wait ..really?!- just twice? You’d think he would need to do more!

Did you know a vampire and an umpire are very different?

Did you know there are like three different meanings of chilly/Chile?!

Seeing Tanya Tagaq perform for the first time: I can feel it in my heart

You are like a campfire Mommy

I know you want help cleaning for dinner but the puck drops in a few minutes (Leafs) and I really think it best we tend to that,

“The light and the hook”?

P upset about his hat going in the wash by accident and being rude and rough. I try to be understanding and soft and bring him back to softer place. He pushes past me, hard and walks away and I cry a few tears of frustration, fatigue at the end of a long day.

Shortly after sitting by the window he says a quiet “sorry” , and I say “it’s ok.” …you know your mom and dad are humans and deserve respect. But I know this is a contract between teenagers and parents. I treated my mom like shit sometimes too. But maybe we don’t have to do it like that. Don’t be embarrassed to have a strong relationship with your mom or to hug k. I am human. I’m not a hat, and I smile. We are not hats

P: yeah, but I spent $60 on the hat and not you.

And then we both go through this box of Amazon stuff that arrived with trivia cards for the car for hockey carpool to keep the kids off the phones and a new light for his room and then he says what the heck is this holding up a big black hook.

I say this is for me. I stand before you as a woman who could really use a facial or a manicure or a haircut but instead I treat myself to a hose hook. This is a hook to hold the hose in the backyard and I’m actually kind of excited about it.

We giggle. And he leaves with his light, and me and my hook.

S: can you bring your own food into a restaurant?

M: no

S: but it’d be good to bring in your own ingredient and make waffles in a Waffle House

M: but why would y do that?

S: because waffles taste better at a Waffle House. Jeeez why are you laughing?

XXXXX

I’ll be your blanket

My body is a buffer, a barrier, a Band-Aid.

A cheerleader, a champion and a checklist.

My body is a blanket

Wrapping, covering, heating

holding, yours

My body is a cart, a ladder, a jungle gym,

a towel

For sweat, blood, food, juice, mess

My body is a net, a basket, a catch, a throw, a slide, a dive, a tickle, a tackle, a launch and catapult

I play both defense & offence

My body is a garbage can

A punching bag, a leaning post, a clothing rack

A conveyer belt, a transportation system

A measurement growth chart. I am up to HERE on you now!

I am modular furniture in human form

A support system

that can be tailored and arranged for small inflexible spaces

I come assembled but can be disassembled

and re-assembled

again, and again and again and again

as per a situation may need.

My body is a tissue

For snot, tears, worry and fears

My body is a building, an oven, an architect, a canvas

My body is a warrior. A goddess, A myth and magic

My body is mine, and also yours.

I’ll be your bed

I’ll be your chair

I’ll be your champion

Be mine too

Our bodies, minds and movements have been affected in so many ways during the pandemic. This project considers how we might stay in the body during such a destabilizing time, and perhaps even deepen our presence, relationship and connection with our movement and bodies through this.

In response to Critical Mass’ 2021 curatorial theme “Where do we go from here?” artist Jenn Goodwin, proposed a community engaged movement-based project that would lead us through the pandemic and allow us to connect with one another.

https://criticalmassart.com/project/procession-of-port-hope/

Procession of (Port) Hope culminated in a participatory style procession on Saturday, May 21st during Cultivate’s Spring Launch Festival, through Downtown Port Hope with repetitive, intentional choreography with local residents and the placards and signs created for their imputs based on Goodwin’s prompts.

The movement score and choreography was created from text & inputs from the community created through (zoom and in-person) workshops.

Text banners, flags and signage were made (both handmade & printed professionally) and during the procession, participants carry signage/ banners that was later be displayed as a visual art installation in Lent Lane.

Thank you to Critical Mass and in particular Debbie Beattie who was a huge support and true collaborator. And the Critical Mass team and all installation supports!

Special Thanks to collaborator & Creative Producer Briana Brown

Also:

Lydia Conlon and the students at Trinity College School

Cultivate Festival

A portrait of a 70 year old dancer who's zest for life and perspective on death is unique, inspiring and enlightening. 

Directed and Produced by Jenn Goodwin with assistance from Bravofact! and The National Film Board of Canada
Performer: Elizabeth Langley
DOP: Todd Buttenham
Editor: Kevin Krivel

Directed by Jenn Goodwin
Performer: Gemma Whelan
DOP and Editor: Sam Stewart

Created at The Place- London UK. With mentorship from David Hinton and Kathleen Smith. 
Producer: Moving Pictures Dance of Film and Video (Canada) & Videoworks (UK)

A portrait of a pole dancer. Layers are stripped away by a behind the scenes look at "gemma' and the making of the film itself.

One man. One pole. Two different lives. The young man gyrating and twirling sensually around the pole is not your average dancer. An average joe's true profession and passion are revealed in a single spontaneous moment.

Version 1-Performer: Mathew Daily

DP: Tico Poulakakis

Version 2- Performer: Jared MacSween

DP: Stephen 

Produced by NFB, Bravo!fact. Thanks to Judy Gladstone. Created as part of Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction. 

commissioned film/s filmmakers included:

Nude Caboose: Guy Maddin

Strip Show: Adam & Dave

Not Pretty, Really: Mark McKinney

On Fire: Jenn Goodwin

Dirty Dog: Trent Carlson

120 Seconds to Get Elected: Denis Villeneuve

Sou: Theodore Ushev

Electric Chairs: Anita McGee

My Obscure Object of Desire: Ann Marie Fleming

Oh La La: Isabella Rossellini

Behind every great singer are… back up dancers. Sweat, blood, dance steps.. and sometimes a little babysitting. On a tough day on stage, it's good to know someone has your back. Whip It and Alleluia help assist behind the scenes as our singer makes her way back 'home'.

CREDITS

Concept by Jenn Goodwin

Story by Jenn Goodwin and Shelly Hong

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Created and Performed by Valerie Calam, Alicia Grant and Nicola Pantin

Director Jenn Goodwin

Producer Shelly Hong

Director of Photo. Mike Andringa

Editor Ayelen Liberona

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Singer Nicola Pantin

Whip It Alicia Grant

Alleluia Valerie Calam

Therapist Natalie Roth

Man in Bar Bernard Kearney

Bartender Anne Mbuthia

Dancers in Club ; Ireen Birungi, Deborah Aletha Brewster, Catherine Gatere. Valerie Gelinas, Shelly Hong, Bernard Kearney, Anne Mbuthia, Robert Reid Porter, Natalie Roth, Jane Snyder, Nadia Tavazzani

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Camera Operator Stefan Randstrom

Assistant Director Billy Shand

Gaffer Matt Richards

Gaffer Mike Pope

Lighting Technician James Feenstra

Art Director Robert Reid Porter

Wardrobe Stylist Kim Harkness

Chuck Seniuk

Hair & Make Up Andrea Heldman

Stills Photo. Jay Shuster

Production Asst Paul Krysinski

Production Asst Justin Yaroski

Production Asst Neville Quinlan

Craft Services Natalie Roth

Camera Equipment Lamport Sheppard Entertainment Ltd.

PS Productions

Sim Video

Grip & Lighting Collective Evolution

Post Production Notch

Music My Baby- Composed and performed by NQ Arbuckle. Courtesy of Six Shooter Records

Produced with a grant awarded by CTV’s Bravo!FACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent)

Special Thanks Radke Films, Athena and The Opera House, Lamport Sheppard Entertainment Ltd., Capsule Music, The Walkie Shack, Jonny Cliff, Neville Quinlan, Pete & Severin

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Shot on location at The Opera House in Toronto

A second rate synchronized swimming duo scour the earth looking for an audience and finds one in the most unlikely of places - muskoka, ontario. amongst the beer bellies, rednecks and long weekend partying, the girls give the performance of a lifetime before they re-submerge in search of the next great stage.

Location: Lake Couchiching, Orillia, Ontario
Directed and choreographed by Jenn Goodwin
Dancers/ Co-choreographed with: Sarah Doucet, Nicola Pantin
DOP: Jonny Cliff
Producer & 1st AD: Shelly Hong

Co Producer: Bravo!FACT
Composer: Jackson Myers

The Movement Movement was created by Jenn Goodwin & Jessica Rose and existed from 2005-2009. Their RUN WITH ART Series took hundreds of runners with them to run through and around galelries, museums and art works asking- Who run;s things anyway? Are we stronger if we run things together?

They ran: MOCA, The ROM, City Hall ( The Archer), The Melbourne Museum, TAAFI, The Gladstone Hotel, The University of Toronto (Mississauga)

Images from Run the ROM

TAAFI (Toronto Alternative Art Fair(curated by Pamila Matharu

https://www.blogto.com/arts/2007/08/the_movement_movement_runs_again/

https://torontoist.com/2006/08/run_while_you_s/

https://torontoist.com/2008/04/screening_of_ru/

https://www.mountainstandardtime.org/project/run-glenbow-museum

In progress

CARROLL/ The Last Conversation/ Moving through the Archives/ Choreographing the Conversation

The Body is one of the most ephemeral but important archives.

I am looking at the body and language during a period of mental and physical decline, through the lens of memory, speech, movement and intergenerational connection. As language and gesture are lost to one woman in the fog of dementia, how does another woman navigate and attempt to hold on to what is fleeting?

I have recently witnessed my mother: a grade 3 schoolteacher of over 35 years, avid reader, crossword puzzle fanatic, obsessive list maker and sticky note user; grammar lover, go through Dementia. The decline and her death were painful and very sad, yet at times it was also an opening for new connection, tenderness, as well as changing movements in the body, and language. New vowels and consonants, linguistic patterns and mismatching. There was some poetry and profundity in this searching and scrambling. Through the loss of words something new was found. Even where there was not always conversation, there was deep connection.

This project sources personal intergenerational archives; writings, conversations, video, audio and movements of both my mother and I. I would respectfully source my mothers recently discovered written works and poetry as well as my own in relation to this period.

The project is anchored in the corporeal and language and would manifest in performance (movement and/or video) and text-based work (poetry, short essays- to accompany performance or stand alone). This may take the shape of a dance or dances and text-based works that track and document a body in decline and late stage of the journey, through gesture, choreographic notation, audio and video of the movements of both the bodies, struggles and vulnerability of mother and daughter tending to a body nearing the end of life. Some of these moments and movements are angry, aggressive and painful. Some of them are sweet, slow, tender and deeply loving. They are dances and gestures of pre-grief, pre-death, of breath, and no breath, of life and death.

During this time, I have also been raising my two young sons (now age 11 & 13). I have documented much of their growth through quote books, writing, video etc. Which work as a counterbalance- language at the start and end of life, and the little things, words and moments that make up...a life.

I have video documentation of the drive to and from my mother’s care home, with the camera on me, the driver. Different days, different drives, different moments of the quotidian of the journey back and forth of care. The drives have a soundtrack- from radio, podcasts, curated songs to fit whatever I needed to get me there or home and be present through it. In addition, or alongside these videos there is writing from the parked car immediately pre and post visit. These may show up audio recorded in the video or text scrolling for example.