February 26, 2025TERRA: Bodies & Territories by Philadelphia-based choreographer Silvana Cardell is a work of experimental dance theater set in a forest with a multi-generational ensemble of women and femme dancers ranging in age from 7-78. Performed within the untamed forest of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, TERRA activates the land as a living laboratory and stage. This immersive, multi-sensory performance is laden in kinetic, theatrical, and sonic experiences of dance and sound..
Featuring a cast of multigenerational dancers, dramaturgy by theater director Blanka Zizka, and a score by composer Devin Arne that amplifies the natural sounds of the forest, the piece engages with the land’s topography to consider women’s ancestral roles as guardians of the environment and parallels between the oppression of nature and exploitation of women. Arne’s sound installation captures the essence of the untamed forested space at the Schuylkill Center by recording the natural sounds of plants actively moving and growing. Set designer Sarah Kavage creates art installations and props for dancers from natural materials harvested from the land. Costume Designer Vasi Zivanic creates costumes appropriate to the setting that allow dancers to be protected and enhance their movement in the forest setting. Women, femme, and gender non-conforming audience members will be invited to join the performers at the end of each performance, creating community and unity with the forest.
“Responding to the Schuylkill Center’s topography, TERRA: Bodies & Territories immerses audiences in an experience where bodies align with the land and human movement and nature merge,” said Erin Mooney, executive director of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. “Our forest is the perfect setting for this performance, where nature is at its most wild.”
“In TERRA: Bodies & Territories, we will unite women’s bodies with the land using the untamed forest of the Schuylkill Center as a living laboratory and stage, creating an immersive experience that both reveals and amplifies the threat of patriarchal domination over women’s bodies and natural spaces,” said Silvana Cardell. “We will explore the profound connections between women’s bodies and the earth, transforming the forest into a living, breathing stage.”
Leading up to the June performances of TERRA, a series of public workshops will introduce community members to the project’s concepts. In collaboration with Taller Puertorriqueno, choreographer Silvana Cardell will lead movement workshops exploring the relationship between gendered bodily sovereignty and land sovereignty. In a visual art workshop facilitated by set designer Sarah Kavage at the Schuylkill Center, participants will learn to build expressive, woven sculptures from foraged plant materials as a form of environmental stewardship.
TERRA will be performed outdoors at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education on June 13, 14,15, 20, 21, and 22. Tickets are available to the public at SchuylkillCenter.org/TERRA. A gallery exhibition and 3-D experience will accompany TERRA in the Visitor Center of the Schuylkill Center.
TERRA will be performed in a densely forested area adjacent to the Visitor Center. Audience members should dress for rough terrain and seating on wood logs. Accommodations can be provided for audience members with mobility impairments. Please contact [email protected] to arrange for mobility accommodations. In case of severe weather, performances may be rescheduled.
Major support for TERRA: Bodies & Territories has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from Georgian Court University, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through the Creative Sector Flex Fund.
About The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is a multidisciplinary grantmaker and hub for knowledge-sharing, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and dedicated to fostering a vibrant and diverse cultural community in Greater Philadelphia. The Center invests in ambitious, imaginative, and catalytic work that showcases the region’s cultural vitality and enhances public life, and it engages in an exchange of ideas concerning artistic and interpretive practice with a broad network of cultural practitioners and leaders.
About the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
Founded in 1965 as one of the first urban environmental education centers in the country, the Schuylkill Center features 365 acres of fields, forests, ponds, and streams in Northwest Philadelphia. In addition to presenting and commissioning art that fulfills its mission of land preservation, education, and restoration, it offers educational programs, an environmental art program, a wildlife clinic, and a nature preschool. The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education is located at 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road, Philadelphia, PA 19128.
