The Natural Order, performance (10:00 min), 2017
Five young gymnasts performed a series of movements, shifting from simple to complex, and from individual to group. At the same time, a group of singers sang phrases which shifted from solo to choral.
The performance took place amongst the flower bed of a Victorian park, moving from its edges to the centre. The park was laid out according to ‘The Natural Order’; the singers used a phrase from The Philosophia Botanica (1751):
“The parts of the plant are the root (radix), the leafy shoot (herba) and the organs of reproduction (fructificatio). The leafy shoot consists of the stem (truncus), the leaves (folia), accessory parts (fulcra, stipules, bracts, spines, prickles, tendrils, glands and hairs) and hibernating organs (hibernacula, bulbs and buds), and that the organs of reproduction comprise the calyx, corolla, stamens, pistil, pericarp and receptacle.”