Philadelphia-based choreographer Shannon Murphy premieres her latest work, a performance journey titled, “To enter we have to be okay with leaving.”, Labor Day weekend at Subcircle Residency in Biddeford, ME. Audiences are invited to walk through the forest behind the residency, illuminating connections between the erosion and deposition of soil with human relationships. Using dance, music, puppetry, and poetry, Murphy and her collaborators explore the transitional spaces between love and grief - life and death.

This is a site specific work, original to a patch of wilderness in Biddeford. Murphy has choreographed dances and puppetry within the woods and created a sound score from original poetry, field recordings, interviews and music - all designed to evoke our imagination and notice the cycles of the forest and the cycles of our lives. What builds up and what wears away are central themes of the show. Because the Performance Journey takes place in an unmanicured part of the property (a wooded trail and mowed field path), audiences should be aware of inherent risks associated with being out in this kind of natural environment (ie: fallen/falling branches, trip hazards, and insects). Each small group of 10 people will be accompanied by a docent(s), guiding them along the walking loop to each performance site. Audiences will gather at the time stated on their ticket and view a visual art installation created by Murphy before embarking on their journey which takes approximately 50 min to complete. The work is sometimes silly and fantastic, at other times reflective and mournful. Murphy and her collaborators steward you on a journey like no other, sure to have you re-orient yourself to the pace of soil.

This presentation was made possible with support from Onion Foundation and Horizon Foundation, Inc.