Insights on Site: Sphere

Directed and choreographed by Sarah Slifer Swift

A one-day performance/installation at the Cape Ann Museum's White-Ellery House

In this performance, Swift explores women’s social and political power through the lens of the historic White-Ellery House. Using movement, film and sound, the performers will examine the complexities of labor, value and respect, as they have been gained, lost or changed over time. The performance will be ongoing and visitors are invited to come and go as they please. Museum staff and volunteers will be available throughout the day to answer questions about the House. Directed and choreographed by Sarah Slifer Swift with Kristen Miller, composer; Andrea Minicozzi, filmmaker; and several dancers/performers.

The historic White-Ellery House (1710) has served as the backdrop for Insights on Site – a series of one-day contemporary art installations for seven years running. The House is located at 245 Washington Street in Gloucester just off the Grant Circle Rotary and is free and open to the public on select Saturdays from May through October. Parking is available in the field behind the house.

Sarah Slifer Swift is a dance artist and educator based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her work spans choreography, site-specific work, improvisation, performance installations and conceptual work. She has been a director, curator and advisor to many arts events and initiatives.

Support for this program is provided by The Umberto Romano and Clorinda Romano Foundation which celebrates Umberto Romano’s (1906–1982) legacy on Cape Ann through arts education and appreciation and by fostering the work of emerging and/or working artists.

About the White-Ellery House

The White-Ellery House, located at 245 Washington Street in Gloucester at the Route 128 Grant Circle Rotary, was built in 1710 and is one of just a handful of First Period houses in Eastern Massachusetts that survives to this day. Unlike other structures of this period, the largely unfurnished house has had very few interior alterations over the years. Stepping inside today, visitors enter much the same house they would have 300 years ago. Parking is available off Poplar Street in the field behind the house.