Deschutes Public Library

Singing myself a lullaby with John Henry

eng

videorecording

Singing myself a lullaby with John Henry

897766148

Originally produced by ADF Video in 2002

56

What role does truth play in the retelling of historical events in performance and art? Is performance a stage practice or do we construct and perform our identities throughout our lives? These and other questions are explored in this moving documentary about west coast dancer John Henry, as he deals with his legacy in the face of the end of his life. Singing myself a lullaby by Douglas Rosenberg and Ellen Bromberg, was funded by a grant from the Project on Death in America (funded by the George Soros Foundation) and co-produced by Wisconsin Public Television. The piece focuses on dancer and educator John Henry as he, along with Bromberg and Rosenberg, creates a work for the theater based on his life. The work was created during the last few years of Henry's life and the documentary continues, incorporating new information learned about him, after his death from HIV/AIDS. The documentary, which includes commentary by many former colleagues including Margaret Jenkins, David Gere, Dr. Peter Goldblum, Beth Harris and many others, has relevance to a variety of academic disciplines including Performance studies, Cultural studies, Gender studies and Dance history and Theory

live action