P.O.R.C.H.

What is P.O.R.C.H.?

P.O.R.C.H., is a training program and site for international creative exchange near Berlin, in Stolzenhagen, Germany. P.O.R.C.H. stood for Ponderosa Ongoing Research and Collaborative Happenings and it offered a countryside site for immersive, multi-disciplinary exchange and embodied investigation. The program was part of Ponderosa, which was part of a larger co-operative Genossenschaft. P.O.R.C.H. differed from FRESH Festival in the sense that it was a training program with folks committing to more in-depth study, sometimes over the course of several summers. A video on the site notes that many of the participants would live together, cook together, and create together for a rather holistic, retreat-like experience. 

Kathleen and co-facilitator Stephanie Maher would often run morning sessions in movement and improvisation that were structured similarly to the classes Kathleen taught elsewhere. Sometimes, instead of starting in the studio, class would start outside, utilizing the natural surroundings. Guest artists including Meg Stuart, Francesca Scaroni, Keith Hennessey, Laura (Larry) Arrington, and others were invited to teach. Participants gushed about the feeling of community and mutuality that would develop. A video on the website shows some of them grasping at words to describe the feeling of the space that participating in P.O.R.C.H opened up for them and for their future creative endeavors. Select participants from this gathering at Ponderosa formed, under Kathleen’s direction, FAKE Company, an interdisciplinary performance group, in 2017.

Kathleen and P.O.R.C.H.
Through the Years

Check out memories of Kathleen Hermesdorf and P.O.R.C.H. compiled by Ponderosa’s Tom O’Doherty. Click on a year to access a folder with photos and videos from that time.