A Forest Is the Moon in Slivers

CREATOR | PERFORMER

A dance-theatre production exploring the forests of the sky islands through dance, sound, text, and shadow.

2018 with Vicki Brown

“The Forest Is the Moon in Slivers” was a theatrical dance production of a work-in-progress presented on Dec. 30, 2018 at the Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre by myself and musician Vicki Brown. It incorporated the following elements:

  • video screening of collected improvisational dances I conducted in forests as movement research;
  • reading of collected material comprised of personal history;
  • sound recordings of sky islands forests;
  • information about the sky islands ecosystem;
  • the science of how forests work;
  • shadow puppet theatre about the formation and evolution of the sky islands;
  • excerpts of conversations with firefighters, fire ecologists, and dendochronoligists;
  • monologues and dialogues ant, fungus, sapling, and stone;
  • improvisational dance works created with Vicki Brown.

The performance lasted ~45 minutes, followed by Q/A and conversation, and hot cocoa.

Special thanks to the Arts Foundation of Tucson and Southern Arizona for supporting this work via a New Works grant and to Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre for hosting it.

Stills from video by Leslie Epperson.