Who Is The Morrígan? At The Path of Life Sculpture Garden
The Morrígan: A dance and music journey through the Path of Life Sculpture Garden, Saturday, October 14th, 2023 at 3pm & 4pm, Windsor, Vermont. Rain date is Sunday, October 15.
Now and again, something comes over the (virtual to be sure) transom that is so unique that I feel compelled to include it in Artful even though I realize notice of the event may be short. In addition to the intrinsic value of this particular upcoming artistic performance, I am aware that the Path of Life Sculpture Garden has become a popular and meaningful place for many in the Upper Valley, drawing people to it and the adjacent commercial center in Windsor VT that includes Harpoon Brewery Taproom and Beer Garden, Simon Pearce, and Blake Hill Preserves. If you are unfamiliar, here is the story of the origin of the Path of Life.
Erin McNulty, a local choreographer, director, and dancer is presenting two site-specific performances at the Path of Life Sculpture Garden. They feature a cast of six dancers from VT, NH, MA, and NY and a trio of local musicians led by fiddler Emerson Gale.
Who is the Morrígan?
The Morrígan is known variably as a goddess of war, fate, death, sovereignty, and fertility. She appears as a maiden, a crone, animals including crows, cows, and eels, and at times a terrifying disembodied voice. She is oft interpreted as three individual sisters who function together through time under The Morrígan title, rather than one figure. She has mysterious connections to the Irish landscape, and can be a violent or vengeful figure while also rewarding or assisting certain people or gods in warfare. She resists ownership and categorization.
McNulty’s describes her interpretation as an ecofeminist one. And it interweaves many art forms. In addition to the live music and dance, she notes “The program will also contain five poems written as text-based responses to the themes uncovered in movement; and a link to a digital Audience Response Tool that will guide viewers to share their thoughts . . . and become part of the creative process.”
Erin is an Upper Valley-based contemporary dance artist, writer, and educator. She holds degrees from Boston University and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, and is a current MFA candidate in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. She is on the dance faculty at BU, Wilmington Dance Academy, and Lebanon Ballet School, and worked as a Lead Teaching Artist for Boston Ballet’s community education team for six years.
Her choreographic work has been presented by dance and film platforms both locally and internationally, and supported by NEFA, the City of Boston, the Shawna Shea Memorial Women in Film Fellowship, and the Junction Dance Festival ChoreoLab residency. Other artists’ bios can be found here.
Tickets, and the story of how this production of The Morrígan came to be, are available here.
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.