What's Dying To Live?

What’s dying to live in these times of mass crumbling of structures we’ve upheld yet no longer serve the human and non human world? What do we stand to lose with the song of modernity fading on an ebbing tide? What is longing to live through our letting go and sloughing off? What do we stand to lose if we let our upright abiding human to die a beautiful death? What is dying to be born of our metaphorical and physical compost? How can we hold grief and joy in both hands? How can we descend into our bodies to become more human/e?

Join us for a 3 day celebration of death, decay, grief, fertility and life. A dissolution and coagulation of art, somatic movement practice, quiet contemplation, music, workshops and more.

The arc of our journey starts on the 31st in Chthonia, the underworld where the invitation is to come dressed as your shadow/monster self to engage in a procession through the realms of Old Mother Dark. We will dance our shadow/monster selves out of the depths of darkness into the light so we may come into camaraderie with deeper aspects of ourselves and each other. We will be guided through our journey by Sara Rothwell offering meditations and movement based on the ancient rituals of Samhain, and Dembis Thioung, Ancestral West African Rhythms Keeper + New Rhythms Creator + Drummaker +Percussionist Artist + Educator & Community Gatekeeper.

'The Wound That Binds Us' with Ffion Campbell Davies. A vocal, movement and painting performance/workshop. Ffion is a multidisciplinary artist, Born and raised in Wales based in London. A qigong practitioner and vocalist, also working with film, sound design and visual art, bringing holistic modalities into performance and ritual.

Our festival will conclude with a Dia De Muertos celebration hosted by multidisciplinary artist and cacti guardian Elki Guillen. There will be an altar to those who have passed, food, drink, workshops, music and more.

Alongside the program we will be building an effigy to what’s dying to live in our inner and outer worlds. This is an interactive public art piece that will be taken apart and become part of Wolves Lane Centre for a gestation period and be rebuilt on Imbolc. Honouring this time of death, wintering and gestation.

Host or Publisher Sara Rothwell & Elki Gulillen