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 chorister, Hannah May, shares her reflections:
“Participating in Into The Mountain as a singer helped me to heal from a recent trauma. The ritual of singing with a group of women and walking for a week were a balm for my soul. The rituals felt both ancient and current; offering a universal human experience of being a part of the natural world; tapping into something culturally specific with Celtic influences in our song; and coming together with a specific group of women who came from such different walks of life yet shared a love of singing. The open Glen contained our actions with its magnificence, being there offered me a sense of great perspective for my anxious state. The embodied nature of Nan Shepherds writing infiltrated the music and movement with authenticity and a kind of confident plainness. There were no scones or floral table cloths up the mountain. Nourishment was drawn from a lived experience; communing with the hills and with women, sweating with others, surviving together when snow fell and thick cloud covered us, using our voices to echo the stream and call to the skylarks.”
Listen to Hannah’s music here.