The Keening

“The Keening” is a duet that premiered in July 2024 at The Junction Dance Festival of Vermont, and may be reset or expanded in the future. Rooted in deep research into the figure of Brigid, both the Irish Catholic saint and the pagan figure, the duet is an exploration of matrilineal lineage, healing rituals, and nature-based spirituality.

Research

I engaged in academic research around Brigid’s cultural history – the Catholic hagiographies, Irish mythologies, and modern symbology. Amongst the myriad specificities and stories, the concepts of community ritual, healing, women’s spaces, and sacred nature continually rose to the top. While on this research journey, I followed the single thread of midwifery within Brigid’s many associations and interviewed midwife Anna Childs (NH). This interview provided a whole new knowledge bank of rich imagery and ideas to bring into the choreographic process. We discussed her experiences around spirituality and community within the midwifery space, as well as the psychosomatic experience of giving birth in different cultural settings. The words “feminine” and “primal” as well as lots of water imagery arose.

As a solo practice, I engaged in movement explorations, writing, and meditations by the hearth, by flowing water, and in a sprouting early-spring field hemmed in by a stone wall – all to embody and further connect with Brigid and the ideas raised in my research.

Score

In our rehearsals, dancer Emily Higgins and I created an improvisational score based on the above research and our personal discussions around mothering:

1. We are there for each other.
2. We value the beauty of softness, and the beauty of effort.
3. We follow threads, slowly, to the ends.
4. We might leave this world, but we’ll come back.
5. We feel the ghosts behind us.
6. We let our bodies take over and move, in ways only they can.

The duet formed based on the gestures and improvisational moments that happened in response to this score. The title “The Keening” came from the instance in Irish myth where the goddess Brigid was the first to ‘keen’ – to wail in grief – when her son was killed in a mythological battle. This expression of love and connection was given to humanity to enact as a ritual relic.