Collaboration with
Eric Trebing
​Devin Seda
Jess Hepin
​as part of Subtle Waters 
​Ocean Movement Residency

Photo by
Bethany
Sophie Garnier

Why do we sometimes pick up shells on the beach? Why do we feel expansive and calm at the ocean and in the forest?

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As we connect with nature, we experience a sense of true aliveness. Our body, mind, and heart as a whole know what to "do" - a doing that exists outside of planning or making meaning. Chinese Taoism calls it "Wu Wei". This doing comes like waves tapping us, waking us to the immediacy of the moment. We then re-member the intimacy with our natural surroundings, because we too are nature.

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My performative installation was born out of sunrise quietude. Each morning, I came into contact with what the shore brought to the sand. My curiosity arose as I touched different textures of driftwoods, plastics, fishing nets, and wild grass. This intuitive calling became the first step in my creative process, allowing the freedom to follow what felt most true. I returned daily to refresh the installation with new materials washed ashore, at times involving other movers and makers.

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The mix of natural and artificial objects holds significance: we are all part of the same ecosystem. Plastics were once fossil fuels. This convergence of materials embodies the concept of non-duality, inviting us to look straight into what we have produced and discarded without separation.

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In Soft Landing, we embodied what it means to be nature. Dancers synced their breath and movement with the waves and each other. As the skin is wrapped in sand and water, it becomes natural to pay attention to the smallest things.

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There was no direction given, only deep listening as we moved at the pace of sand and ocean. First came the installation, then human bodies entered and transformed it. Humans-made sculpture informed the movement, and the movement shaped the sculpture in new directions. This cyclical relationship honors the impermanence and constant change that are essential to nature itself, and to this piece.