A Celebration of Art and Activism

We recently hosted our first live event, A Celebration of Art and Activism, where we showcased our debut dance film for our latest collection, “Coexist.” —an artful attempt to heal our relationship with wolves. We followed up the film with an introduction to the Local Earth Collective and our nonprofit partner for this collection, the Earthfire Institute. To bring light to the issues facing wolves in Montana, we had guest speaker Jennifer Sherry, a Wildlife Science and Policy Specialist for the National Resources Defense Council. Below is a recap of the evening.

My dance partner Sara Mannheimer and I shared our process for creating the film:

As choreographers, our goal is to build connections: connecting with place, with our community, with nature, and with each other. We create dances that explore emotion and interconnectedness, and that find joy in movement and embrace imperfection. We meet our bodies where they are, and our fellow dancers are key collaborators, each showcasing unique perspectives and strengths.

This piece is titled “In the Shadows.” It explores our relationship with wolves and the wilderness of our psyche. It pushes us to embrace all the corners of ourselves, including the wild untouched parts of our unconscious, or our shadow.

We attempt to do this through the practice of dreamwork. By bringing our dreams into our bodies through movement and choreography, we enter a dialog with our shadow.

The hope is that by examining our own unconscious thoughts, habits, and programmed reactions we can bring into consciousness more creative ways to coexist with wolves and other predators.

The music is from a compilation album inspired by the book Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, a book that both of our moms passed on to us.

We love dance films because of their collaborative nature. We start with an idea but that vision takes on a life of its own with all the input from collaborators. 

With that, we want to give a shout-out to everyone involved —

Our dancers were all integral parts of creating the movement…

Blair Bodie—who also served as an informal mentor, Dorothy Noreika, Ellie Oakley, Cathy Werner, Sara and myself with a special thanks to Anna Allen who wasn’t able to perform due to an injury but was integral in developing the piece.

Meghan Purcell – a fiber artist who did the wool felting for our vests and Shauna White Bear – a moccasin maker who made the belts.

Nathan Norby, who has worked with us on multiple projects. He’s always up for anything—like driving to idaho and waking up at 5am, he’s super professional, he puts us and the dancers at ease, and he trusts our vision for the work.

Scott Young, who shot, developed, and printed these beautiful behind-the-scenes photographs. It’s amazing to see all of it captured: the dancers warming up and Nathan moving through the dancers with his camera!

Thank you to Melissa Ragain and Tinworks Art, where we filmed the first section of the dance. Their space offered the perfect backdrop, and Melissa was amazing. She herself mopped the floor for us before we filmed!

Thank you to Echo Arts for hosting us tonight! You make our northside community even more vibrant, and we are so happy to be able to work with you on this event.

Introduction to the Local Earth Collective:

In addition to sharing our film, we wanted to formally introduce you to the Local Earth Collective–which is an organization I founded last fall that works to build community around art, craft, and activism. We do this by offering a new focus each quarter where we open with a visual art piece such as this film. We then offer experiential ways to engage with the art in the form of workshops and activism. For example, this dance is part of our ‘Coexist’ collection which focuses on healing our relationship with wolves. 

The costumes are available for auction, which will be raising money for Earthfire Institute–a wildlife sanctuary and retreat center with a mission to reawaken our connection to wildlife and nature. 

For workshops, we have Meghan teaching a wool felting course where we visit the North Bridger Bison Ranch, a local predator-friendly ranch to source bison fur. We also have an online dance workshop by Blair Bodie, which incorporates much of the movement style you see in our piece. Finally, we have an online workshop called ‘Animal Communication: The Practical and the Mystical’ where we explore different styles of being in relationship with wolves and other animals, from the spiritual to the scientific. This will be taught by Kristen Houser and local naturalist Cedar Mathers-Winn who is here tonight (hi Cedar.) you can sign up on our website localearthcollective.com.

I chose to work with Earthfire because I have personally experienced the amazing work they do. I visited their sanctuary in Driggs, ID, a few years ago and my experience interacting with the wolves and bears touched me deeply. They have created an incredible home for these animals that, for various reasons, can not be released into the wild. Instead, they live out their lives at Earthfire, forming interspecies bonds. The ability to get to know these animals on a more intimate level provides a new understanding that each animal has its own unique personality. Teaching us that a wolf is not just a wolf; each being is dynamic, sentient, and intelligent. We will be sharing a short clip about Earthfire after the dance film. The proceeds from tonight’s raffle items will go toward their efforts.

Montana’s relationship with Wolves by Jennifer Sherry

We were delighted to have guest speaker Jennifer Sherry a Wildlife Science and Policy Specialist for the National Resources Defense Council. In her professional life, she is fully immersed in the politics around wolves. She shed light on many of the anti-wolf policies in our state and where they stem from. She also shared an inspiring personal story about her time spent in the Taiga with the Dukha people. Jennifer traveled to the Dukha community to learn about their livestock husbandry practices on a landscape shared with wolves. Here she learned first-hand what it looks like to be in a balanced relationship with wolves.

Zaya explained to me, “We need the wolves to keep the balance of nature.” The Dukha recognize wolves as teachers and protectors: I was told that wolves teach the people how to be good livestock owners and wolves protect the well-being of both wild game animals and the reindeer herds by controlling the spread of disease. Zaya discussed wolves in the context of the give and take relationship between the Dukha people and their environment. They frame that relationship in terms of reciprocity, rather than conflict.

You can read her full story here.