A map of all the places you could be, yet are not for alto flute, harp, dancer, and electronics (2023)

A map of all the places you could be, yet are not wonders how we might engage deeply and meaningfully with place through our creative praxes without shying away from the painful histories lived and living beneath our feet. Can moments of intentional sound and movement serve as a land acknowledgement when framed properly? What do we gain and lose through such work? Of what importance is language in this communication? I don’t know, and I am grateful for the opportunity to ask these questions alongside such wonderful collaborators. A map of all the places you could be, yet are not was written for my dear friends, Extended Music Collective and Marie Levêque, and premiered at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity on the side of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain in August of 2023. Both composition and choreography were collaborative efforts between Marie and myself, and it is especially worth acknowledging Marie’s beautiful, original text which, read by her, echoes through the piece’s first third.

A map of all the places you could be, yet are not is also available for cello and harp, as well as without dancer or electronics (depending on the performance space).