Catherine Gallant/DANCE

Escape from the House of Mercy

Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 at 8pm

University Settlement, 184 Eldridge St. NYC

Escape from the House of Mercy is an abstract choreographic rendering of sensations and images evoking the spirits of women whose lives were forever changed by the workhouses and laundries in the US and Ireland. Flesh and tears haunt the dreams and shattered hopes of escape. The ghost-filled air surrounds the dancers as they wrap themselves in transparent net fabric, both isolating and protective, from the forces at work against them. We now invite audiences to wonder and reflect upon why these places from the past are important now and how history connects us to the present condition of women’s rights around the globe.

Choreography: Catherine Gallant in collaboration with dancers-

Anne Parichon-Buoncore, Erica Lessner, Charlotte Hendrickson, Cecly Placenti,

Kelli Chapman, Megan Minturn, Halley Gerstel, Jessie King, and Jasmine Oton

Costumes: Ivana Drazic, Video Design: Erica Lessner

Includes music by Dana Lyn and Kyle Sanna, Alina Jacobs and others

In our research we read the chilling interviews collected by the Justice for the Magdalenes organization and went on to study the Irish Workhouse system through a residency at Portumna's Irish Workhouse Centre. Our project began in NYC with The House of Mercy, one of a number of institutions at Inwood Hill Park. It was a home for “abandoned and troubled women'', in fact, most inhabitants were brought there against their wills. A young woman could be locked up for years for an offense such as dancing in public or walking alone at night. Inhumane and demoralizing treatment were disguised as rehabilitation as the rights of the poor, especially women, were completely denied. Our work shines a thought provoking light onto these buried stories.