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“The plan was to possibly have this other dancer who is going through the whole journey, and Ellen was going back and forth: ‘Should it be me? Could I do it?’\u201d recalls Danielle Kaufman, head of production design. “Then ultimately, I think [she] made the decision to do it because that\u2019s what it\u2019s about\u2014facing that fear and stepping into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so, the metaphorical rite of passage became a real one, with Warkentine fighting her inner demons and aversion to vulnerability while on set.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in true art, there is that vulnerability and that rawness because you\u2019re exposing yourself,\u201d director Anjela Vega says. \u201cI always think of it as kind of peeling your chest open and exposing your heart with no rib cage. You\u2019re just standing there. And that\u2019s what [Warkentine] had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1990, Jungian psychotherapist Maureen Murdock penned the groundbreaking book The Heroine\u2019s Journey<\/em>. It was noted as the first time an academic had challenged Joseph Campbell\u2019s popularized trope of the Hero\u2019s Journey, a universal narrative centering around the male protagonist and his call to adventure, with women thrown in as mere side pieces or distractions.<\/p>\n As female organisms experiencing this world in full, many luminaries in the creative realm have long fought against this narrative; painter Frida Kahlo, composer Meredith Monk and Ukrainian-born filmmaker Maya Deren, to name a few.\u00a0Invoking these \u201cavant-garde women weirdos and outsiders\u201d that have come before her, Warkentine shares her own journey as an unconventional woman, artist and human being in this modern world.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole thing is about trying to enact a ritual, an art ritual to actively shed [baggage] and shed light on the dark places that I didn\u2019t want to see in myself,\u201d Warkentine says. “It\u2019s about creating this whole spectacle to arrive at authenticity \u2026 It\u2019s so much easier to mug and be a caricature than to be seen. What does it mean to be authentic and be seen and take yourself seriously, but not too seriously?\u201d<\/p>\n Filmed this past August over the span of six hot days at Basic Flowers — a performance space in downtown Los Angeles — the visual album was fittingly helmed by an all-female production crew, including Warkentine\u2019s close collaborators Vega (director) and Kaufman (production design), as well as Dana Fytelsen (director of photography), Lisa Tom (gaffer), Jaclyn Chessen (editor) and Mieko Romming (costume designer).<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really interested in how we experience opera and musical theater digitally,\u201d says Warkentine. \u201cAnd having these epic spectacles. And the music video is a medium of performance art where it\u2019s experimental and anything goes.\u201d<\/p>\n The album, slated for release on Dec. 2, via Long Beach\u2019s Monte Bre Records, was recorded this past spring at Big Ego Studios in Long Beach with producer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Schlarb who has collaborated with the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Glen Hansard, Cherry Glazerr and Nels Cline. A collection of songs written in various eras of her life, Warkentine explores everything from the topic of self-destruction (\u201cThanatos\u201d) to navigating relationships with others as \u201csacred mirrors,\u201d and perhaps, most importantly through it all, excavating and learning to harness a relationship with her own self.<\/p>\n Much like Warkentine\u2019s past bodies of work, the new tracks feature a theatrical composition of strings and horns, with her own whimsical voice, which invokes strong modern singer-songwriters such as My Brightest Diamond, Bjork, Kate Bush and Fiona Apple, as the anchor.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not realize until later in life how much I\u2019ve kept from fully expressing myself because I want to be a good girl or don\u2019t want to appear ugly, and that\u2019s still a thing,\u201d Warkentine says. \u201cIt felt really good to work with women. That\u2019s part of the thing\u2014trusting your voice, trusting each other, trusting intuition and honoring that.”<\/p>\n