Alive from Off Center

Ellis Island (3x9)

Air date: Sep 07, 1987

This 1987 episode of Alive from Off Center opens with a prologue by performance artist Laurie Anderson followed by artist-choreographer Meredith Monk’s film about Ellis Island. Set to haunting music and vocals, Ellis Island features present-day color footage of the site combined with black-and-white shots that take viewers into its past, as the experiences of American immigrants are expressed through dance and re-created in a manner that merges imagination with history.