The cycle of giving 🌳🌿🪴🌱🐿
Thanks to #sixfootwingspan collaborator, KJ Dahlaw, this year we had a relationship with an Oak Tree. In May we danced with, near, and on the giant beauty. Though the tree was old and dying, they held us in their strong branches. Our friend and huge-hearted tree advocate, Josh Klipp, gave each artist a baby Oak and instructions for how to care for them through the year. In December, the rains came (thankfully!) and the time was right to plant. We returned to the old Oak, their thick branch arms were now cracked off from the trunk and resting on the ground, making an opening in the canopy to let the light in for the young seedlings. With thank yous, blessings, and wishes, we planted the new shoots into the damp soil around the base of the elder tree.
Through artistic vision, community, and the generosity of this tree, we were gifted a deeper understanding of the relationships between birds, trees, bugs, humans, and fungi. Through an art project we experienced this reciprocity of bodies, labor, care, support, and a cycle of destruction & creation. All of it a gift.
Our living is art in practice, our practice is living in art. All of this is part of the dance. Thank you for dancing this yearly cycle with us.
Experience the 5 minute OakSoma film here.
Love & gratitude,
Sarah Bush Dance Project
OAKSOMA was conceived by KJ Dahlaw, filmed by Lindsay Gaulthier & Aleksey Bochkovsky, and featured dancers Sarah Bush, Julianna Cressman, KJ Dahlaw, Richelle Donigan, Frances Teves Sedayao, with couture costumes by Colleen Quen.
Photos of KJ Dahlaw tree planting by Sarah Bush.
Sarah Bush Dance Project 