Sanjeevini Dutta reflects back on the experience of interpreting artworks in a garden through dance and movement.
Images: Simon Richardson
Integrating movement with existing artworks that are spread over an area of Stockwood Gardens in Luton, was the delicious challenge set to Kadam Dance as part of the Heritage Lottery supported Reconnect programme. The art works are by Scottish sculptor, poet and landscaper Ian Hamilton Finlay, who by an extraordinary commission for a humble town has created for Luton the only designed sculpture garden outside of his own Little Sparta in the Pentland Hills outside Edinburgh. https://www.littlesparta.org.uk/
The artworks at Stockwood are varied, from a set of stones scattered over the grass in a formation referred to as ‘the flock’, to a bronze head of Aphrodite, intertwining birch trees referencing temple columns, to a wall bearing the names of characters from Greek myths interpreted by Roman poet Ovid.
As dance makers we had some colours in the palette to play with: the space, to glory in the scale of the open skies our stage, and at the same time chose nooks and crannies to make a tighter enclosure for more intimate telling; we could enact the stories that the art works referenced, equally we could play with concepts such as the pair in the birch trees on a pedestal to dance in a pair formation
The thrill of dancing in the gardens was the interplay with the natural elements: the lawns and the birch grove became the set and the scenery, the light and shade of the sun and passing clouds provided the ‘lighting design’, and the audio track was enhanced by the bird song which added an extra layer to the soundscape. Using the existing background as the stage set such as the bank of earth behind Ovid’s Errata, gave the opportunity to the dancer to scale the wall and merge into an actual laurel tree. (In the story Daphne the nymph is pursued by Apollo, whose overtures she rejects and praying to the Gods she is transformed into a laurel tree).
The artist Alec Finlay, (son of Ian Hamilton) added to the artworks by the installation of a bench and bee hives, dedicated to Baucus and Philemon an old married couple who symbolise mature love. An endearing duet by Katie Ryan Yeung and Kali Chandrasegaram portrayed the couple and the events that led to their humble abode being transformed in to a grand temple.
In addition, haiku-like three-line poems punning on ‘the rest of’ gave us scope for group improvisations;
The rest of the
trees Is a
glade
The rest of the
poem is
Silence
The rest of
The muses are
hiding
Performed by five dancers scattered amongst the birch trees, the rendition was magical. The audiences who took their place within the landscape became an additional element of the choreography, an unexpected element of design.
The face of a flesh and blood dancer interacting with the head of Aphrodite brough the head to life- we could see the strength and power of the bronze as we may not have experienced before.
Aphrodite emerged from the bronze and walked the path in the woods, as members of the audience scattered rose petals on her feet.
A perfect marriage of visuals of the inanimate and the living and breathing, connecting and giving new life to existing structures.
Concept and text : Sanjeevini Dutta
Choreography: Kali Chandrasegaram
Principal Dancers: Katie Ryan Yeung and Kali Chandrasegaram
Narrator: Donald Hutera
Members of the Chorus: Sanjeevini Dutta, Stacey Pricket and Gopa Roy
Music Compilation: Archita Kumar
Wisdom of the Poets was performed at the Stockwood Discovery Centre on 26 April 2026, as part of the Reconnect programme for Luton Culture funded by National Heritage.
