The Five Senses Festival Year 3: A Safe Safari, And Other Fanciful Acts
“We don’t go down without a fight,” said Renée Jaworski, co-artistic director of Pilobolus, speaking about planning for the company’s third Five Senses Festival. And really, when you think of Pilobolus, that shape-shifting, mind-bending,/blowing human movement company, you wouldn’t expect anything less a wonderfully imaginative way to put on the festival despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic.
The Five Senses Festival returns to its home on the Spring Hill Vineyards spread in New Preston, Conn. from July 31 through August 2, with appropriately distanced activities and programming from morning to night. In the first two years, the Festival served as a celebration of world-class dance, immersive and participatory art installation, multidisciplinary performances and concerts, talks, interactive workshops, recreational activities, a full calendar of wellness classes and locally-sourced food offerings. In the spirit of Pilobolus’ “expect the unexpected,” this year’s Festival will work a little differently, but no less imaginatively and resourcefully.
The centerpiece of the festival is the Five Senses Safari, a 75-90 minute journey through the wild imagination of Pilobolus. It will, the company says, be like “driving through a dream.” Musicians will serenade passing cars. Art installations will pop up in the woods. Dancers will perform through the trees — or from them Creativity meshes with nature in a perfectly safe, magical journey.
Phoro: Emily Kent
“We knew we were going to have to reimagine the festival or cancel,” Jaworski said. “We went through many iterations of the programming. During a hike through the property we realized there were all these natural stages that we can place people on with proper distancing, and have the audience drive through."
While Jaworski was careful not to give away too many details, the Festival’s website offers hints of various scenes —a vocal dreamscape, the Mad Hatter’s tea party. Participants can make the safari a rolling picnic: Local culinary icon Cassandra Purdy will create pre-packaged “nourishment for your belly and soul.”
The Car Safari will run from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each of the three days, with reservations including specific time slots.
Morning activities will center around wellness, with yoga, meditation and sound healing sessions from 8-10 a.m. Participants are required to bring their own mats and any other equipment, and wear masks until seated in assigned spots. And that will be part of the fun, too: whereas your normal park might delineate social distancing spots with standard-issue circles, the Five Senses Festival will outline clouds and other whimsical shapes in which to mete out personal space.
In the evenings, the Festival campus will offer a self-guided treasure hike, music and dance performances, talks and outdoor movies, and storytelling. On Saturday night, the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers will perform, and author Dani Shapiro will speak. The evenings wind down alongside the bonfire. Due to capacity constraints imposed by state health officials, availability is extremely limited.
Jaworski emphasized that they are going above and beyond the state’s guidelines for safety, but were determined to find a way to bring off the third festival.
“People are in need of nourishment that isn’t coming through a screen,” she said. “The reason we’re doing it is that there’s a lot of change that needs to happen in the world. For that to happen, we need to be connected not just to each other, but to our dreams and visions of the future we can’t see yet. We’re on this border of who we are and who we need to become in society. Let’s come together and make some real change happen.”
The Five Senses Festival
July 31-Aug. 2
Spring Hill Vineyards, New Preston, Conn.
Check website for schedule and to buy tickets.
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