Biocycles By The Grove
“When the giant tree falls in the forest, it lets in light that spurs a thousand seedlings.”
A creative exploration, through soundscape, human-as-sculpture and dance, into:
• life-cycles (individual, organisational, ecosystems)
• normalising uncertainty and building resilience
• finding hope when surrounded by permacrisis
• learning from the natural world
Humanity has huge expectations to produce feelings of certainty, solidity and permanence. To reassure that ‘everything is ok’. However, I often experience the opposite. Ambiguity, fluidity and impermanence. The way forwards is not clear. And it can be hard to know what to believe and how to feel in a changing world. Yet change is the only constant.
Increasingly, humankind is making changes to the natural world. But we are just part of that system. Not the centre of that system. After an arc of growth comes an arc of decline. Be that for an individual, a community, a species, an ecosystem. As one life-form fades, another emerges to take its place. What will triumph next?
Biocycles By The Grove is about hope, while acknowledging that natural cycles necessarily include phases of decay. This provocation explores how an ending can be a beginning.
Exploring human-as-sculpture: Biocycles By The Grove, around the giant Western Red Cedar at Poltimore House gardens. Choreographed and performed by Daisy Harrison and Alexa Mason.
I co-led a series of experimental outdoor workshops in the overgrown gardens at Poltimore House, alongside composer Will Pearce and choreographers Daisy Harrison and Alexa Mason. Working with groups of participants, we explored tree life-cycles through four activities:
1. Listening to nature & mark-making
2. Human-as-sculpture & movement
3. Professional dance performances
4. Reflections & meaning-making
With the rise in mental health concerns, a key part of this provocation was to provide people with the time and space to ground themselves, take comfort from nature, focus on breath and develop a practice of noticing, appreciation and gratitude.
A soundscape of life cycles within life cycles
The Biocycles By The Grove soundscape was composed by Will Pearce, incorporating smaller life cycles within its overall life cycle. Most of the sounds came from nature, including:
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Leaves rustling in the breeze
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Sap rising in a Scots Pine, recorded in Zurich
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A nightingale recorded at Knepp Estate rewilding project, Apr 2024
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Woodpecker from south Dartmoor, slowed down and sounding like a saw
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Oak knopper galls dropping from an oak in central Exeter
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Beavers felling trees
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Icicle-covered tree collapsing under its weight
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Will's trombone and flugelhorn improvising part of a Somerset Folk Song
Biocycles By The Grove, choreographed by Daisy Harrison, performed by East Devon Dance Academy
Mark-making into movement (or mark-making as movement?) beneath the giant Western Red Cedar at Poltimore House gardens.
Biocycles By The Grove
- gathering reflections
How did different parts of the performance make you feel?
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Inspired & melancholic.
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Connected: us / you / trees / music / movement
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Dream-like, hypnotic, flowing together & apart
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Immersed, free, rejuvenated, connected
If one of the trees that you noticed earlier could speak,
what might it have said to you?
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I am you. You are me. We are one. - Jan
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Let go of ‘shoulds’, be more playful, bend and turn like me - Caz
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You belong here. Dance more often. Be seen like I am – Martha
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Stretch your body often. Be rooted and solid in your movements. Stand tall - Zillah
If one of the trees that you noticed earlier could listen,
what might you say to it?
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Thank you for letting me learn from you, for being so free and solid and full of movement - Caz
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Thank you for being here, for helping us all breathe. I’m sorry - Martha
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Teach me to use all my senses to be present - Shirley
What meaningful experience have you taken from today?
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Connectivity lies beyond wifi - Cass
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Let go, surrender your mind - Denise
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Nature helps us to feel alive - Lyn
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We were enabled to be creative in a very non-judgemental way - Liz
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I’ve never moved with a tree before - EDDA
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I could do it, without the voice in my head saying “I can’t draw”
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A sense of freedom, fluidity and fun - Zillah
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The mark-making invited me to notice and pay attention closely, which was rich and connecting - Elaine
What might you want to do differently as a result of this experience?
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Do more of what challenges me outside of my comfort zone - EDDA
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Trust! The process, the journey, myself - Daisy
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Take my drawing material out regularly to spaces like this and allow emergence with the surroundings to arrive in my work - Zillah
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It has reminded me of the power of silence and immersion - Mo
This project has been principally funded by the Creative East Devon Fund through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with additional funding from Creative Beings CIC.
