ABSTRACT
In this set of practice pages, Missy Pfohl Smith shares the story of three ecosomatic dances; one emerging in a wooded landscape in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York, two born in the woods of Powder Mills Park. The dances had been intended to acknowledge catastrophic climate change and impending human destruction—and unexpectedly, two weeks after capturing an initial video, Pfohl Smith returned to the location and discovered that the landscape at Powder Mills Park had been destroyed by a violent windstorm. Both land and author/dancer alike were devastated. As a result, her journey of creative practice doubles as a meditation on loss. Pfohl Smith’s practice pages offer a chance to reflect on growing anxiety, widening divides, and poorer physical and mental health. She suggests that tuning-in—attuning—to nature through collaboration and creative process provides opportunities to notice, listen, and respond to our environment and our relationships with one another.
