Dancing The Land! RiDA Sharing

Fri 24th Jul 2026, 1:15pm

Location: Birmingham

Venue: Botanical Gardens

Dancing the Land grows from artist-in-residence Mary Savva’s RiDA research, developed in partnership with Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and Fabric.

The performance emerges from Mary’s somatic practice, working through the skin, bone, fluid, muscle, and organ body and explores how human movement meets landscape, plant life, and ecological memory.

Mary has invited a small group of artists to work alongside her, exploring how each person’s inner environment and personal history shapes the way they meet the Gardens and its plant life.

What To Expect

From 1.15pm, six dancers will be quietly present in the Glasshouses, resting, holding still poses, and moving slowly through the space.

At 2pm, the dancers will slowly make their way from the Glasshouses to the performance area on the Forest Walk, where a 20-minute performance will take place in the round, beside the Gardens’ oldest Copper Beech tree. Audience members can stand on the path or main lawn to watch.

After the performance, those who wish to continue the experience are warmly invited to join the dancers for a quiet, silent sensory walk along the garden paths, approximately 20 minutes.

Listen – Rooted in Birmingham Podcast

Through movement, stillness, and shared presence, this podcast traces what emerges when human bodies meet living plant systems.

Research in Dance Award Residency Sharing is in partnership with Fabric, Birmingham Royal Conservatoire and Botanical Gardens

Key Information

This sharing will take place in the Glasshouses and Main Lawn

Pricing

Free with Gardens Entry or Membership

Access

The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is generally well-accessible, offering flat surfaced paths, accessible glasshouses, and facilities like manual wheelchairs and mobility scooters for hire. However, because it is a historic 15-acre site, there can be some challenging inclines, uneven terrain, and occasional steps

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Birmingham

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