Tongues in the Flowering Tree

CREATIVE TEAM

The Creative Team for Tongues in the Flowering Tree at a glance, outlining their foremost areas of professional practice and the geographical strands they will be following during the first year of in-depth research.

Please click on photos to go to full biographies.

DIRECTORS & CORE TEAM

Therese Lindqvist Persson

Founder & Artistic Director: Rowan is a dance movement theatre practitioner, writer and director. She is the originator of Tongues in Trees as an Arts Project and founder of Tattered Butterfly Arts/ Spiderflower: Contemporary Earth Dance.

Based in the UK, she will also be contributing to research where she will be going back through a mix of ancestry belonging to the East End of London and Norfolk within the British Isles.

Director of Sculpture: With many years and a wealth of experience within the indigenous arts, Rob is a sculptor, artist and musician and is acting as Director for Sculpture. Based in the UK, Rob will also be acting as a contributor in research and creation, as he follows his ancestral strands through the North of England. (See Group 2)

Dramaturg & Editor: Bernadette is a dramaturg, writer, director and researcher. She is of Irish descent and is currently based in Dublin. Her role is to oversee development and research and most certainly to play the devil's advocate to keep us all on our toes.

Director of Percussion: Kirby hails from Norfolk within the UK and acts a Director of Percussion. With extensive studies in West African and Afro-Cuban music and a Diploma in the Therapeutic & Educational Application of the Arts in 2002, Kirby has spent over 25 years learning how to impart some of the intricacies, the joy and the spirit of drumming music as a source for healing and empowerment.

Director of Percussion: Afra is of mixed-race origin: an interesting rhythmical mix of English/Irish (mother) and Grenadian/ Cuban/ Chinese (father) and the drums she has come to play are of west African origin. Afra has worked alongside Kirby and Rowan within Spiderflower: Contemporary Earth Dance since its very beginning in 1999 and acts a Director of Percussion for Tongues in the Flowering Tree.

Dancer / Researcher / Contributor: Sandra is a dancing sculptor, ceramicist and visual artist with an interest in percussive form and is based in Sweden. She has thoroughly Swedish roots and will be travelling back into Southern Swedish history.

Dancer / Researcher / Contributor: Ketama is dancer and musician based in the UK. She will be following her ancestry through to Wales and over to China.

Dancer / Researcher / Contributor: Therese is a visual artist, singer-songwriter, musician and dancer based in Sweden. She is of Swedish, Danish and Dutch ancestry, and will be following her roots through Stockholm, Södertälje, Dalecarlia, Gotland, Denmark and Holland.

CONTRIBUTORS - GROUP 2

The following members are working as contributors for our second group. They are in the early stages of research and presentation pages are yet to form. Once ready, their stories and discoveries will be wove with our Core Team.

It is important to Tattered Butterfly Arts to open a space of equal opportunity and support artists of all different backgrounds and circumstances. These contributors are working at a slower pace due to heavy workload, mother / fatherhood or other studies - but still offer valuable research to the project. Slow Time Contributors move into the Core Team when certain cycles of research are complete.

Dancer / Researcher / Contributor: Karolina is a dancer, facilitator and ceremonialist based in Sweden. Her blood-line is Swedish, running from Jämtland, the island of Gotland, to the Värmland-region, and also Stockholm. Due to her strong connection with Mexico, Karolina's path may extend here.

Dancer / Researcher / Contributor: Hannah is a traveller, teacher, dancer and a storyteller. She is British, and will be following her Polish, Russian and English ancestral lines.

Director of Sculpture: Based in the UK, Rob will also be acting as a contributor in research and creation, as he follows his ancestral strands through the North of England.

Dancer / Researcher / Contributor: Maria is a dancer and anthropology student. She will be following her Swedish ancestral lines.

Dancer / Researcher / Contributor: Margus is a doctor and a dancer, and will be following his Estonian ancestral lines.