Image description: In the background is a picture of a giant willow tree. The image is mirrored so the two halves of the same tree are now coming together to make a new shape. To me, the top branches come together like finger tips touching and the middle section of the tree the shape is like a human pelvic bone with trunks extending down to the ground as two legs. The image of the mirrored tree is overlaid with a rainbow colored filter. White text at the top reads “From HERE NOW DANCE”. Situated in the middle of the image right in the center of what looks like the tree pelvis is white text that reads “The Garden”. At the bottom of the image between the trunk legs there is white text that reads “An outdoor live performance” with another line of white text below it that reads “Saturday, Oct 2nd, 12:30pm / 1pm / 1:30pm". End of image description.
Transcript
Welcome to The Garden - a dance performance with embedded invitations. You’ve arrived at exactly the right time.
You are here now. Move yourself to wherever you can take some breaths and listen for a minute or so to what I am about to share with you.
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As I’m sure you can already sense, 6/15 garden is a special place. I mean there is that giant willow tree, come on. She is massive and has been here spanning time for a looooong time. The garden community members maintain and cultivate this garden sanctuary. But we must acknowledge who came before them and the land you are standing on. This is the land of the Lenape people and Canarsee is the name of a tribe of the Lenape, who lived here. This garden is part of their ancestral homeland.
An oasis of green within a city scape, this garden serves as a local food source, a place for people to gather and children to play. Today it is also serving as performance venue!
Now that you are here, connecting to this place, orient yourself. What information are your senses picking up? And as your senses adjust to the space, may you experience your own aliveness.
What is unfolding before you is a performance with ritual, cycles, character and story. The experience of this audio guide will last about 10 minutes. We invite you to take your time between audio guide tracks. Let your own curiosity and delight in each character dictate the pace that you move through the guide.
There is no discernible beginning or end to the performance exactly but the general arch of experience is about 30 minutes. Feel free to linger if the space allows. We do ask that you socially distance yourself from the performers and others that are not part of your own pod.
Now I’d like to introduce you to the inhabitants of the garden…Errant Cloud, Atlas Athena, Measured Defender and Selkie. They are complete worlds in and of themselves yet create and contribute to this shared ecosystem of The Garden.
You may choose one of the named audio tracks (named for each Garden character) in any order you like. Lean into your imagination and I will say goodbye when you are ready to leave via the “bye for now” audio track. I hope you enjoy your Garden visit. I’m really glad you are here.
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Errant Cloud
They are, as their name infers, living life outside of traditional standards and constructs. Errant Cloud is a soft dreamer. They often appear as though suspended in time but they are just moving at a pace that suits them. Your patience will be rewarded, if you slow down to witness. Listen long enough and you will likely hear them sing. It is in the space of stretched time that their songs and dreams arise.
Errant Cloud invites you to slow down and span time. To sit for a while and rest. To watch your thoughts pass by you like clouds.
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Atlas Athena the Adventurer (usually called “A” by her friends)
She is mud and salt.... the place where creation blooms, where seeds crack open and become flowers. She is born out of the earth's materials and yet she is the one who fashions them. The mountains, the deserts - yep, she did that. "A" reminds us of our own creative capacity. The adventurer in us. You will witness her creating, drafting, learning from her own devising processes. She delights in the creative act. Each decision to carve this way or cultivate that space is made with intention. “Serious play” she calls it (then laughs). She is the map, the atlas guiding us back to ourselves and to our own root system that connects us to…well, everything.
“A” invites you to wander the paths of the garden before you leave. And as you wander to your next adventure, to go with intention and remember to play along the way.
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Measured Defender
She is a contained flame. The keeper of boundaries. She is the one who guards the garden, who keeps intruders out. You will likely find her posting the perimeter, poised and ready. She is intelligence, strength and justice combined. Measured Defender acts from a solidity that does not waver. She communicates, without words, that she cannot be messed with. Her way is direct. Cold? No, simply self-possessed...which can be intimidating. “Good” she says.
Defender dares us to remember who we were before we began to doubt our instincts and intuition. She asks, “where are your boundaries and do you keep them fortified?”
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Selkie
An island. The mystery. Able to house both water and fire - They are alchemy embodied. Selkie is connected to the deepest waters, to the placental, to inner worlds. They swim in the channels of the subconscious and surreal. Selkie is a deep sea diver, coming back up only to shed and change form, before diving into the abyss again. Their work is not comfortable, but there is catharsis in it. When you spend time with Selkie you may notice some discomfort of your own. Can you stay with them there? (It won’t last forever).
Selkie invites us to explore our own deepest waters...the places we prefer not to go, but must. Closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths is a good place to start.
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