With respect to this year’s theme, a key pillar in my research-creation practice that I have been developing over the last decade is “music as social action.” As part of this work, a central project in my portfolio is a full-length production for dancer and percussion entitled Whispers of Hope that I developed with Quebec dancer Josiane Fortin. Each original work was inspired by, and based on, the research of a specific ecological theme and developed in discussion with local ecological groups.

“Butterfly Gardens” (Jardin de papillons) is a work inspired by a simple ecological gesture: leaving dead leaves on the ground rather than throwing them away. As they decompose, they become a world for butterflies and insects while regenerating the soil (David Suzuki Foundation, n.d.). This seemingly simple gesture—using dead leaves instead of raking them up and bagging them—has great potential in our collective urban and suburban lives. The work transposes this process into a “sound world” where sounds and graphic signs accumulate like layers of leaves, producing resonances and interactions. By inventing new gestures to create a world in contemporary musical practice, the music highlights how the signs written into the score make it possible to create a “world of sound” made up of layers, accumulations, and resonances, like a rich tapestry of dead leaves.

The piece premiered at the 2022 Earth Day Art Model (EDAM) Telematic Festival, organized by Scott Deal (Indiana University Purdue University), without dancer, and then again in 2023 at EDAM with dancer.

References
David Suzuki Foundation. (n.d.). How to create a butterfly garden. https://davidsuzuki.org/living-green/how-to-create-a-butterfly-garden/