{"id":93409,"date":"2025-06-03T10:03:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=93409"},"modified":"2025-06-09T09:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T16:55:13","slug":"feathered-tides-merges-movement-with-urgency-in-a-dance-for-gsl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/feathered-tides-merges-movement-with-urgency-in-a-dance-for-gsl\/","title":{"rendered":"Feathered Tides Merges Movement with Urgency in Dance for GSL"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Movement unfolds in relation to place in Mitsu Salmon’s Feathered Tides, with dancers interacting directly with the natural and interpretive landscape.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBirds are really reliant on the Great Salt Lake,\u201d says Mitsu Salmon<\/a>, director of immersive dance experience Feathered Tides<\/em>. Centered around native birds and bringing awareness to the drying of the Great Salt Lake, Feathered Tides<\/em> takes viewers on a journey into all levels of emotion through varying media, including dance and music composition. One of the most imperative elements of Feathered Tides<\/em> is its site specificity: it was specifically choreographed and envisioned in the Miller Bird Sanctuary, which is home to a variety of bird species reliant on the Great Salt Lake. \u201cEspecially in the pandemic, I would walk there almost daily,\u201d comments Salmon, where plans for Feathered Tides<\/em> came into conception roughly a year ago. \u201cThe initial impulse [for Feathered Tides<\/em>] was the place, falling in love with the Miller Bird Sanctuary,\u201d Salmon says.<\/h4>\n

Feathered Tides<\/em> is one of 12 initiatives currently supported by\u00a0Wake the Great Salt Lake<\/a>, a series of temporary public art projects designed “to educate and inspire residents and visitors about preventing the decline of the Great Salt Lake,” according to Wake the Great Salt Lake.\u00a0 \u201cWithout action, Great Salt Lake\u2019s collapse would have major ecological and economic impacts on the city, state, and region.\u201d Organized by the Salt Lake City Arts Council, with the support of the Salt Lake City Mayor\u2019s Office, the project was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies\u2019 Public Art Challenge with the largest single grant the Arts Council has ever received.\u00a0 Rather than highlighting depressing statistics, artists have the opportunity through the grant to inspire our community to take vital and needed action to protect our landscape.<\/h4>\n
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Signage for Feathered Tides, part of the Wake the Great Salt Lake initiative, welcomes viewers to an experience at the intersection of art and ecology.<\/p><\/div>\n

Feathered Tides <\/em>includes six dancers, who were vital to the performance and its process of creation. \u201cIt\u2019s very collaborative…all of the dancers are incredible,\u201d says Salmon. \u00a0Starting with personal research, Salmon would bring key findings to rehearsals along with videos of local birds in motion. After a discussion of the species, Salmon would share prompts with the dancers who would then choreograph their own getsures based on thier explorations. Salmon then used the dancer\u2019s movements, building them into the overall choreography. \u201cEach piece varies from mostly theirs to mostly mine\u201d, says Salmon, sharing that viewers can find that more of the solos are dancer-led while much of the corps or group dancing is choreographed by Salmon. \u201cI don\u2019t say I\u2019m the choreographer, I say I\u2019m the director\u2026 so much comes from the dancers even though I\u2019m shaping it\u2026it wouldn\u2019t happen without them.”<\/h4>\n

The performance itself is an immersive hour in nature, venturing into a deep exploration of Utah\u2019s native birds and their reliance of Salt Lake City\u2019s namesake. The beginning of the performance is soundless, without the use of the provided headphones, begging viewers to listen to the rush of the river and wind blowing through the leaves while the dancers emerge from the wooded areas. A mixture of classical and contemporary movements, the choreography is birdlike and flowy, paired perfectly with the lush landscape. The audience follows the river in the round trip through the reserve as it flows out to the Great Salt Lake, further amplifying the performance’s goals and greater callings. Audience members are provided with binoculars, allowing them to observe both the show and surrounding birdlife, creating the immersive feeling of being part of the scene. Further along in the performance, viewers are urged to don their provided headphones to experience a custom track, composed by Simon Briggs, Kiku Hibino and Peter Speer, backing the dancers. The track includes cues for the audience, questions to ponder, music to accompany the dancers, and retellings of specific species such as the emotional exploration into the pelican, an endangered species. Dancers use varying materials to contrast the thick foliage and pastel costuming, designed by Virginia Broyles, creating starkness in the soft landscape. As viewers complete the full circle of the performance, they begin to question the idea of home, and where home truly is for ourselves and the nature that surrounds us.<\/h4>\n