Some months have passed since the Into The Mountain performances and with this we have invited the amazing team of women who made it happen to share their reflections, thoughts and feelings after the event. From production to performing, guiding audiences and behind the scenes, all have taken something away from the collective experience of Into The Mountain into their daily lives and practices. Another choir member, Julie Lawson, shares her reflections:
“Being a part of Into the Mountain has been a real privilege. I love Nan Shepherd’s writing, so the opportunity to help animate her words was an honour. Coupled with Hanna’s beautiful score and Lucy’s patient direction, it felt like a homecoming to be singing with a group of like-minded women. These relationships developed further in our daily pilgrimages to the mountain, and every day brought new discoveries on a personal, physical and a deeper spiritual level. Simone created the increasingly rare opportunity to become immediate. We were fully present in nature and all her offerings and were physically involved and in tune (hopefully) with the rhythm of the landscape. I loved every moment of it; midges, pouring rain, squelching through hillsides, golden dancers, rustling in waterproofs, sniggering under tarps, all the joys that Glen Feshie in early summer provides. The legacy for me has been both a stimulus to move outwards spending more time on the hills in Scotland and swimming rivers, lochs and seas. It has also inspired a delicious long awaited return inwards to the studio to explore word and image to navigate our place in the landscape. I am so grateful to everyone who made this possible. Looking forward to Into The Ocean………”