An event created for a particular place. Their are also ‘site-appropriate’ and ‘site adaptive’ performances as we get into the finer nuances of the work.

The Grove performance is site-specific.
It is designed in consonance with this Banyan tree at the end of the grove.

The Grove ~ Close Up and Personal

"The Grove" is a "site-specific" dance created to be performed in and around Banyan trees. It is also an aerial dance performed on a bungee suspended from the Banyan tree. This work is inspired by the old growth groves in Palm Beach County.
"The Grove" performance is a collaboration including music by John and Bill Storch, poetry by Gail Shepherd, poetry interpretation by Patricia Storch & Dhananjay Kale, costume by Debra Blizzard, technical director is Rick Tetrault, and choreography, performance and concept by Cherie Carson.

Did you know?

The Banyan trees are also known as "walking trees" for their ability to grow roots from the limbs down. The largest Banyan in Florida is 80 feet tall and is located in Old Cutler Hammock. Local folklore has it that in West Palm Beach’s early days, Banyan Street was decidedly "shady". It was lined with juke-joints and houses of prostitution.
The name Banyan named for Hindu traders, (from the Gujarati: "vaniyo", literally, "man of trading caste" later Portuguese "banian,") who built their trading pagodas in its shade.
Indians and Africans believe that the spirits of the dead reside in the Banyan.

Background…

The Banyan trees are also known as "walking trees" for their ability to grow roots from the limbs down. These trees are currently not protected by environmental laws and are often times misplaced and misunderstood. Banyans' roots grow deep, drinking in much water. This gives these trees their incredible height and spread. The largest Banyan in Florida is 80 feet tall and is located in Old Cutler Hammock.
Local folklore has it that in West Palm Beach’s early days, Banyan Street was decidedly "shady". It was lined with juke-joints and houses of prostitution. The Grove was performed, December 1998, in the park on the Robert and Mary Montgomery Armory Art Center campus in one of Palm Beach County’s oldest growth of Banyan trees.

About Aerial dancing:

It is challenging. It is unpredictable. It is in the moment. It challenges gravity.
It is more than a circus act. Sometimes it looks like angels dancing in the sky, an optical illusion. It can be funny, comical, sometimes dangerous. Timing is important. It challenges the performer to let go of the "clock value" (imagine Salvadore Dali’s melting clock), to work with, sometimes manipulate, the inherent timing of the medium.

As a technique one is challenged to bring to this art form all that we know and more. I am a dancer who has trained in Circus Arts (on a trapeze, Spanish web, rings, and stilt walking) as well as rock climbing, biking, and yoga.

Why hang from the trees? …

It is exciting…fun!
an investigation of movement
an attempt to release the true nature of the bungee
a sharing of the symbiotic relationship between (hu)man and nature
an attempt to create a symbiotic relationship between the performance and the tree
a sharing of three uniques stories
If trees could tell stories what would we learn...

The Grove is a sharing of stories, surely not the only ones but a "jumping off" point.

I was my reason to bring attention to the fact that there is still precious old growth to be seen, admired and hopefully, preserved. It combines the natural beauty in movement (dance) and stillness (the trees). To contact Cherie, ccarson@movingout.org