In a darkened gallery full of furniture and rubbish, a musician and 3 blindfolded movers explore their bodies and this strange landscape.  Along their journey the performers encounter both the overwhelming nature of the material landscape and the physical grounding of their own memories and vulnerability.  Their movements are grounded in the internal pleasures and pain of the performers and contorted by the constraints of the crowded physical space. 

An exploration of what we try to rid ourselves of, how our experiences shape and erode our physical and psychic selves, and what remains despite our efforts to remove it.  Utilizing dance, sound, and text the artists dwell in their experiences of trauma, vulnerability, and reconstruction, slowly coming out of their separate experiences into a relationship with one another and with the viewers who share the space. 

Choreography and Installation by Ella-Gabriel Mason
Performed by Cecilia Ebitz, Ella-Gabriel Mason, and Darcy Shaffner
Music by Daniel Malinsky
Lyrics and acapella song by Ella-Gabriel Mason
Video by Paul Kruse

​Premiered at Future Tenant Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA in 2015
Supported by Carnegie Mellon University's Trespass Residency Series

The brain is a historical organ, but it isn’t linear.  And our bodies, our responses, our lives are shaped by it’s ability to time travel through memory and association.  Detritus, Vestige, and Dross is an exploration of how experiences of trauma shape our lives and how even as we move forward in time our past remains, as though it were strewn across the path ahead.  It’s creation has been forged through reading and conversation with many people about their experiences of trauma, suffering, healing, and memory. And through my own reflections on living with PTSD.  - Mason's artist statement