The themes of biennial outdoor arts festival Inside Out Dorset, running over two weekends from 17 to 26 September, are sustainability, land use and lifecycles, human and environmental.
For the world première of Partnering with Earth, a performance poetry installation created by disabled artist Dave, The Shouting Mute, at Symondsbury Estate 24–26 September, scientists, conservationists, activists and land workers were interviewed about their relationship to the land and their thoughts on climate change.
Dave has also written the narrative and lyrics for Planted Symphony, a new audio trail by Drake Music at Radipole Park and Gardens in Weymouth 24–26 September. This new version of the work is a tribute to its original composer, Lucy Hale, who died earlier this year.
A sound walk guided by an app triggered by the audience’s GPS is a new version of a performance first seen in 2017 that tells the tale of a herbalist who uses the natural world to heal, grow and transform. Audiences use headphones and their senses to follow her story told through spoken word and song lyrics with voice, strings and percussion.
Forest, a new company of adults with different abilities, takes part in a new work from Fingerprint Dance, a community dance company based in West Dorset who create performance opportunities for people under represented in mainstream arts. Directed by Anna Golding with choreographer Emily Alden, Two and a Half is performed by Forest alongside mature dancers company Grace + Growl in Christchurch on 19 September and at Symondsbury Estate on 26 September.
There will also be live-streams of Luke Jerram’s Gaia from its two Festival locations on Friday 24 September via Facebook Live 6:30–9:30PM then on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 September 'as live' at the Inside Out Dorset web site.