Embodying Ecocide

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Sarah Alexander explores ecological breakdown in a curation of live performance, film and discussion

Friday, 15 March, 2024

Sarah Alexander, Senior Lecturer in Dance at Bath Spa University, explores the hope and hopelessness of coping with the continued ecological breakdown of our planet in a new event Embodying Ecocide: between hope and hopelessness at the University Theatre on the 21 March.

Embodying Ecocide will bring together a mix of live and film work from Choreographer Sivan Rubinstein, Senior Lecturer Sarah Alexander, Film-Maker Chris Lewis-Smith and Movement Artist and Researcher Stephanie Gottlob. Attendees will witness the artistic output and then be invited to engage in a panel discussion with the artists.

When asked about the piece, Sarah said:

“Embodying Ecocide has grown out of a desire to create a space for artistic expressions and discussion around embodied responses to current ecological crises. The motivation initially stemmed from an interest in developing the BA (Hons) Dance course to include provision around sustainability, environmental awareness, and ecological thought, but has led to a personal journey as an artist and researcher. I am beginning to realise my deep-rooted concerns about environmental collapse, how to deal with these concerns, and how to create resonant performance work that speaks to this.

"Collaborations with colleagues and professional artists have helped grow this event into one of multiple perspectives that feels very exciting and rich. Originally imagined as a panel discussion, the event quickly re-centred around creative practice, through conversation around how to give an audience agency. We were all keen to avoid the scenario where audiences might feel hopeless and unempowered; the same feelings that brew up in me when I think about the magnitude of ecocide.”

Embodying Ecocide: between hope and hopelessness is followed by environmental dance work No Land B, created by Sivan Rubenstein. No Land B is part of Rubinstein’s Climate Futures Series, co-produced by The Place and created as a response to the Artist-in-Residence programme at King’s College London.

Two dancers invite us to join in a hopeful loving lament to the earth - calling us home to be in our bodies and to be with the earth. Working with their bodies, the dancers transform sculptures, created by Caroline Mackenzie, into rolling landscapes, the sails of a boat, a funeral shroud. With this multitude of symbols, the dancers migrate on a journey which asks us to look to the horizon.

This transformative work presents the idea that out of destruction comes life and reminds us of our vulnerability, power and the bonds that connect us in our shared Earth.

Tickets for both Embodying Ecocide: between hope and hopelessness and No Land B can be booked through Bath Spa Live’s website.

Photo provided by Bar Alon.