Through creative expression, Passing Project encourages cultural reorientation from fear to acceptance of challenging transitions during one's life. Based in Chelsea, VT the local project will come to Sable for a community engagement and performance-immersive that addresses the theme of passing in all its many meanings, including dying. During these stressful times, we could all benefit from creative healing in our lives. Each of us has experienced some sort of passing, whether that be a loved one, a job, or a chapter in our lives. This immersive will focus on healing by turning our passing stories into art. Participants will come together each day for multi-disciplinary warm ups, group meditations, and performance exercises. The immersive will guide participants in creating their own pieces as well as a group performance. The 3 days of the creative process will culminate in a public showing at Sable's Food + Art Friday gathering. Join Dancer Tracy Penfield and Filmmaker Tess Holbrook and bring your passing stories!

Dates/times: August 3rd-5th, 10am-5pm. Performance August 5th at 6pm.
Location: The Sable Project, 588 Taggart Hill Road North, Stockbridge, VT 05772
Costs: $150 for the 3-day immersive. $195 for the 3-day immersive + camping & food at Sable. Scholarships are available.

Sign up HERE

This Sunday join us for a visual arts project led by guest artist Alexandra Martins Segur! She'll be guiding us through letting go of the things that don't serve us in our life, and giving energy to the things that do! Passing Project online studio sessions are by donation!

Learn to:
Create a visual representation of feelings/emotions/actions that are no longer serving us
Release these feelings/emotions/actions that are no longer serving us
Cleanse and call-in positive intentions/affirmations

Materials:
Paper, pencil, crayons, colored pencils, markers, scissors, glue, other drawing items.

Sunday, Feb 6th, 4PM EST
Sign up here: https://www.passingproject.org/studio.html​

Sliding Scale Donations appreciated: $10-25
Go to Passingproject.org

Using art to open the unexpected gifts the pandemic life has given us. During the workshop, we will explore the landscape of our Covid time, individually and collectively. Simple, if not easy, questions will be asked and the responses may be written, drawn, painted, danced, sung, spoken...the expressive medium is up to you. You will be invited to share your story, though you, of course, may choose to keep it to yourself. Listening will be as important as speaking.

For over a year and a half, every one of us has been affected by the Covid 19 Pandemic. Daily elements of our lives have been altered, if not disrupted, and each of us has experienced the passing of someone or something. There have been tragedies and losses, as well as silver linings:  Unexpected self-discoveries and achievements.

Passing Project Co-Founder Tracy Penfield has been facilitating group sessions since the 1980s, in a variety of media and venues. The Pandemic offered her the opportunity to learn how to engage the Zoom platform for groups, as well as sessions for individuals. If you have questions or concerns about Zoom, or the content of the sessions, please email Tracy for assistance: [email protected]

Hello Dear Friends~

Sunday April 25th we'll be premiering a collective event. This is a collection of stories we've gathered from friends in various places in the United States who had pandemic passings of diverse sorts. They are not all about death by COVID-19, rather a transformation that occurred in this past year either due to isolation, illness, free time, introspection, aging and yes, in several cases, a passing. 

We hope you will be moved by these pieces and perhaps inspired to share a Pandemic Passing of your own and be a part of our projected series of individual stories.

Pandemic Passings will premiere at 7pm EDT (4pm PDT) on YouTube. The link to the YouTube premiere is here: https://youtu.be/354Btcaqlg0

After the event, join us on Zoom for a Q&A! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4567968398

Sunday March 15, 2020; 1-4pm at the Garage Cultural Center, Montpelier VT Sliding Scale donations; suggested is $20

Come for an enlivening afternoon of story-sharing!
This workshop is open to all who are curious about the notion of passing, as in dying, and yet so much more. We will move, write, speak and sketch, as desired. You do not have to identify as a dancer, writer, speaker or visual artist to participate. As humans, we have all had something passed on to us and we will pass something on. Inevitably, we will all pass through to what the Celts call the Thin Place, through the veils between the worlds. Through imaginative exploration, we can become familiar with this place and lighten the fear of this transition.

Tracy Penfield is Artistic Director of the Passing Project. Tracy resides in central Vermont, where she is the Founding Director of SafeArt, Inc. Tracy is a dancer and fiber artist whose curiosity about passing is leading her to hold community engagement events on the topic. She warmly invites you to join her for this one. No experience in the arts is necessary and all abilities are welcome.

Pre-registration appreciated for planning: [email protected] or 802.685.3138

The Garage is accessible to all.

On Sunday, March 8th, 2020 at 5pm in the downstairs theater at The Savoy, The Passing Project will host a special showing of the film ​Passing​. After the film there will be a Q&A with Co-creator Tracy Penfield, Musician and Composer Carl Papperman, Dancer Ali Palin. This will be followed by a reception with light hors d’oeuvres. Wine will be available for purchase.
Buy tickets here: https://www.savoytheater.com
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/228470018173059/
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Who
The Passing Project was created by Tamara Hurwitz and Tracy Penfield who danced together in Bozeman, MT, in 1981 and 1982, a brief two years that created a lifelong friendship. They each went their ways in terms of dance and life, and in 2012, Tracy said to Tamara, “Let’s make another dance, while we still can!” It became apparent that the theme of dying was now prominent for each of them: Tamara’s parents had both passed in recent years, her father only a half year before; Tracy had 4 friends who passed with cancer within the past few years. After Tamara spoke her father’s passing story, Tracy remarked on how beautiful it was and how rarely people share passing stories. True, they are not all pretty or smooth, but they can be important to know and to pass on. They had their theme for the dance: Passing.

What
The Passing Project will be hosting a special screening of their film Passing, which is a live recording of their performance piece also titled Passing. Followed by the film will be a Q&A with
Co-creator Tracy Penfield, Musician and Composer Carl Papperman, Dancer Ali Palin , which will then be followed by a reception with light fare.

When
March 8th, 2020 at 5pm at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier VT. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased ahead of time on the Savoy’s website or at the box office.

Why
The Passing Project offers a variety of opportunities for the community, such as workshops, trainings, performances, and residencies. This event will be a chance for the community to learn what The Passing Project is all about.

About the Film
Tamara Hurwitz and Tracy Penfield are mature dance artists and choreographers who began exploring the idea of passing in 2012. They asked themselves “What has been passed on to us? What will we pass on? What are our Passing Stories?” ​Passing​, the performance, had its premiere on April 28, 2018 at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, Vermont, which commissioned the work. The Passing Project is holding a special event where we will premiere the film ​Passing,​ a live recording of that first show at the Chandler.

The film, shot and edited by Jay Beaudoin, encapsulates the vision and art behind The Passing Project and brings out the beauty of the performance. The piece is 77 minutes in length, a full-concert work. ​Passing ​is performed by seven dancers and four musicians onstage (cello, guitar, accordion, clarinet, flute, keyboard, voice). It features a set of hand-netted linen forms, created by Tracy. These forms represent the veils between the worlds, which part when a being is passing. When they part, one enters what Celts call the Thin Place. It is a place of transformation, of spirit, of soul. One may be accompanied to this place by a loved one in the living world and/or beckoned by one beyond.