Martita Goshen

Air, Water, Land, Sun, Rain, Ice

Martita Goshen's life passion has been the welfare of this planet, bringing her talents to its preservation. Her love of all earth's creatures, from whales to horses to cats and dogs to elephants and tigers, butterflies, bees and ants. All God's creatures are reflected in her dance. Entranced and profoundly affected by the earth's jungles, mountains, seas and land, she expresses this love and respect through her belief that we are all connected and dance brings the world together. Martita is an artist who paints through her fluid and seamless movement.

Martita Goshen's pioneering work in dance, theater and education has garnered numerous awards and funding. Among these accolades include a Dance Magazine award for choreography. Grants have included the New York Foundation for the Arts; the Yellow Springs Institute; Arts Connection; Dance Education Laboratory at the Harkness 92nd Street Center Y, New York City; the Guggenheim "Learning to Read through the Arts Program"; Young Audiences; the New York City Board of Education; the Lifebridge Foundation; the Roger L. Stevens Family Foundation; the Geraldine Dodge Foundation; the Nathan Cummings Foundation; the Arnold Foundation; the Harkness Dance Foundation; the Howard Gilman Foundation; the Leonard Bernstein Family Fund and the Joyce Foundation.

Martita Goshen

Since l981, Martita has performed and toured with her dance company, Earthworks, in British Columbia, Meares Island, Jamaica and Grand Cayman Islands, Greece, South Africa, London, Paris, Lisbon, Denmark, and throughout the United States including California, Hawaii, Florida, Kentucky, Alabama and Arkansas.

In New York City, Earthworks has performed at the Joyce Theater, the Baryshnikov Arts Center; Dancespace at St. Marks Church, and Lincoln Center Outdoors. She has also performed at many festivals along the East coast including Wolftrap; Jacob's Pillow, the Kennedy Center, the Capitol Rotunda and the White House.

Martita has collaborated on many projects under the theme of Vanishing Homelands with unique artists in many countries including musicians David Darling, Glen Velez, Art Baron, Wayne Hankin, Jamie Bernstein, writer and naturalist Barry Lopez, painter Carol Anthony and many extraordinary dancers.

Over the years Martita has evolved a powerfully expressive style that draws upon organic movement, music, ancient architecture and mythology from a wide variety of cultures to engender a respect for nature. In these haunting tapestries of dance and storytelling global concerns prevail and are interwoven with compelling autobiographical themes.

"Martita is an anomaly, straddling the world of dance and that of animal protection and environmental conservation. She has created a unique niche for herself in expressing both concerns."
Leslie Bennets, The New York Times
"She is a song."
Leonard Bernstein
"Her dances are brave and haunting proof that movement can be just as powerful as speech."
The Washington Post
"Martita Goshen's ideas about life, death and redemption attain a transcendent dimension. Goshen finds her strongest voice in imagery, conjuring up arresting kinetic pictures that flash a bolt of hot lucid meaning straight to the heart. Here is a vision that describes good, compassionate human beings. Most astonishingly, here is a vision of healing or hope that Goshen manages for an instant, to make us believe."
Anne Tobias, The Village Voice
"For Martita: Warrior, fellow sea and mammal artist, with deep respect for your profound dedication to mother earth and all her children."
Paul Winter

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THEMATIC strands

The science of making visible what is invisible -in landscapes of the earth--.the rhythms and intricacies of nature as well as the veneration of life- giving powers of the universe inherent in ancient and prehistoric cultures have always inspired my work.
TEACHING strands

I create dance workshops and school residencies to foster an understanding of science, ecological literacy, improved physical strengths, self esteem, tackling obesity, diabetes and other social issues children face in public schools like bullying. Programs are tailored to needs of school children in the categories of:
CHOREOGRAPHIC strands

A trilogy inspired by the American thoroughbred race horse, Barbaro, his siblings and other uncommon encounters with equine intelligence and the landscape of the backstretch life.
GLOBAL strands

An ecological consciousness needs to be nurtured in order to face global warming and climate changes. I am developing transatlantic climate projects, the first of which will be in Berlin, Germany in 2012. This will focus on building bridges and strategies among all of us in dealing with urban nature deprivation syndrome and other problems we face because of our industrial technocracies.