seeds
seeds incorporates narrative, installation, metaphor, ritual, dance, task and tradition. It was developed in the mountain range of the Troodos, at an altitude of 1,000 metres and near the small village of Kalopanayiotis. Just outside the village, up a short dirt road, there stands an old oak kokkoforos tree, its long branches supported by metal poles. The seeds of this tree, lying like foam on the ground beneath it, formed the starting point for the performance, with the 'actor' inviting each member of the audience to take a seed and to make a wish.
In the performance, the narratives interwoven by Economou told of the tree's history as protector and granter of wishes. Significantly, and within a performance language that was simply and unpretentiously shared with the audience, these stories were interwoven and informed by four strands of Economou's autobiographical experience: the death of her father earlier that year, her grief, her sense of family 'tree', and, also, her own sense of ontological being at that time.
The first part of the performance comprised a re-enactment of a ritual first created underneath the old kokkoforos tree, which connected one square foot of earth beneath the tree, with poles supporting it, with a stone the Economou had found near where her father had fallen, with a handkerchief she had tied in the tree to make a wish for him, and finally back to the square foot again. These 'connections' were made with cotton from an old spool that was used for weaving cloth. In the studio, the thread connected a chair in the space to the audience seating, to stones placed in the space, to a lighting flex hanging from the ceiling, and so on.
The second part of the performance in the studio consisted of a dance in which images of falling, and heaviness, and grief and mourning were explored and expressed. It began with the 'actor's' arms full of stones found at the mountain site and ended with the task of balancing the stones on different parts of her body, from which they fell. The dance was accompanied, in part, by an elegy by Britten played on the cello.
The village of Kalopanayiotis is in the Marasthra valley, known for its sulphur springs. These springs begin in pools concealed deep within the mountains and they are known for their healing powers. The third part of the studio performance began with Economou re-enacting the ritual of pouring sulphur water from a bowl onto the seeds that lay beside her and making a wish that all the branches of her own family tree might grow strong. This section continued with the thread linking different parts of the space being further extended to form a complex web. It was then wound round and round the 'actor' by a second person, to metaphorically and literally conceal her within paper, and to bind her to the 'branches' of the family tree.
The fourth section began with Economou standing, like a ritual wax offering in the centre of the space. She then gently emerged from the wrapping, as if from a cocoon, leaving it standing in the space surrounded by her fallen stones. Her next task was to stitch a hole in a lace cloth given to her by her mother and place it, as an offering of thanks in the 'chapel'. Again this task was a re-enactment of a ritual first created in the chapel underneath the old kokkoforos tree.
The piece ended with the 'actor' sitting amongst the audience and referring back to the wishes they had been invited to make at the beginning of the piece. In a way, the performance - though drawing on intensely personal material - acted as an offering to make those wishes, and, by implication, the wishes of all communities, come true.
- concept - choreography -dance:
- Arianna Economou
- production:
- ECHO ARTS