Dancer, choreographer and conservationist Martita Goshen is bringing her production “The Way of The Whale” to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The Friday night performance will be followed by a workshop in partnership with the Sea Cliff nonprofit Love Your Neighbor Project on Saturday.
The production features an ensemble of nine dancers and will take place on World Environment Day. The music consists of a score by American composer David Darling and “Songs of the Humpback Whales” by marine biologist Roger Payne. A Q and A with Goshen will be held after the performance.
“It’s the world of the ocean,” Goshen explained, “and it’s all about whale behavior, and it’s embodied in everything we do.”
Goshen, now a Sea Cliff resident, was born in Uruguay. Her parents were diplomats, and she said she always felt a “sense of purpose.”
“I always,” Goshen said, “felt a deep connection with the natural world.”
Goshen began dancing with a private tutor when she was two. Living in the United States, she attended Elmira College in New York and West Virginia University, studying Latin American affairs and earning a master’s degree.
She worked for Robert F. Kennedy Sr. when he was a United States senator. But after he, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., all of whom Goshen described as her “heroes,” were assassinated, she began to change direction.
Goshen met animal welfare activist Christine Stevens in 1971 after she overheard her talking about a need to protect the whales. During their conversation, Stevens suggested Goshen write a ballet about whales.
“It took me three minutes,” Goshen said, “and she changed my life.”
Goshen said Stevens sent her dancing all over the world. In Sea Cliff, Goshen is involved with Love Your Neighbor Project. The organization offers scholarships for North Shore School District students, offers grants for community members to begin community-minded projects, and assists neighbors in need. It also holds annual events like Porchfest and Pride Stride. One of the nonprofit’s annual initiatives is “The Listening Project,” which aims to create a sense of community and connection. This year’s listening project workshop will be led by Goshen, incorporating art, movement and meditation.
Jen DeSane, Love Your Neighbor Project’s strategic neighbor, has known Goshen for roughly 30 years and said they got closer during Covid-19 shutdown when DeSane was helping Goshen make videos for her students in New York City.
“The whale behavior can teach humans about connecting and caring for one another,” DeSane said. “So where Love Your Neighbor Project centers on social connection, and that is pretty much a defining characteristic of both of these projects, and how they align together.”
Goshen said she hopes that performance will be “like a dream.” She praised DeSane, Love Your Neighbor Project Founder Jaime Teich, and the organization as a whole for their work in the community. Goshen added that partnering with the organization for this performance and workshop means “everything” to her.
“I get to dance for my sanitation worker,” she said. “I get to dance for the guy who pumps gasoline for me. I get to dance for my neighbors. How good is that?”
Ticket proceeds will be donated to the Animal Welfare Institute.
