The poignant and striking landscape of an 11,000 year-old submerged glacial woodland, The Gearagh/An Gaorthadh in Co. Cork is the point of departure for Weathering, a new work by director/choreographer Mary Wycherley.
Weathering will be premiered at Dance Limerick on Thursday March 30. Dancers Justine Cooper and Aoife McAtamney, filmed in The Gearagh by cinematographer Raja Nundlall, will appear on multiple screens with poetry by Jools Gilson and live music from composer Jürgen Simpson, musicians on cello and percussion, and singer Ceara Conway.
The Gearagh is the site of the last surviving full oak forest in Western Europe, which was felled in the 1950s for the building of two hydroelectric dams which provide electricity for the nearby city of Cork and the surrounding area. Within Weathering, the resulting sacrificial landscape of flooded forests acts as a bridge to the prehistoric age, asking us to reflect on how ancient places and natural environments infuse our current relationship to the natural world.
Mary Wycherley is founder and artistic director of Light Moves Festival and Studio Light Moves which nurtures experiences across dance, new media and screen-based practices.
Growing up in West Cork and has had some familiarity with The Gearagh all her life.
“During the last decade or so I’ve been engaging more with the area.
“The Gearagh is a place that really compels you to think deeply about how we impact on our landscape, a place that prompts you to think about a deeper past, and how that might help us see better ways forward. And while there is much to mourn in the story of The Gearagh, there are also elements of joy, with a rich and rare biodiversity that finds ways to exist within this irreparably changed environment.”
Playing at Dance Limerick on Thursday March 30. 7.30pm.
