TERRA: Bodies & Territories
An Immersive Performance by Silvana Cardell
Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
SchuylkillCenter.org/TERRA
TERRA is a dance theater performance by Silvana Cardell, set in a forest with a multi-generational ensemble of women and femme dancers ranging in age from 7-78.
Performed within the forest of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, TERRA activates the land as a living laboratory and stage. This immersive, multi-sensory performance is laden in kinetic, theatrical, and sonic experiences of dance, sound and land-based visual art.
Responding to the land’s sloping topography, the piece immerses audiences in an experience where bodies align with the land and human movement and nature merge to reveal our inextricable livelihood and empowerment. The performance explore the natural setting, moving among the landscape to create shelters and unveil imaginative landscapes collaboratively.
Performers:
Maria Urrutia, Mackenzie Morris, Tammy Carrasco, Tamar Gurtherz, cadence Marciano Chloe Marie and Meghan Frederik. Guest Performer: Germaine Ingram Child performer: Adeline Smith
Site-specific sound installation:Devin Arne
Visual Artist: Sarah Kavage
Dramaturge: Blanka Zizka
Costume Designer: Vasi Zivanic
Conceptually, TERRA confronts the patriarchal subjugation of marginalized bodies and natural spaces. TERRA’s performance narrative uplifts the ancestral role of women and femmes as environmental guardians. Women, femme, and gender non-conforming audience members join the performers at the end of each performance, offering kinship and unity with the forest.
Dance Ensemble: Gianna Castronuovo, Eun Jung Choi, Xander Cobb, Patricia Dominguez, Bethany Formica, Esmerelda Luciano, Lilly McGonigle, Ashleigh McGown, Abigail Mosier, Kate Seethaler, Kayliani Sood, Adeline Urrutia, Sheila Zagar.
A gallery exhibition and 3-D experience will accompany TERRA in the Visitor Center of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. This companion exhibition introduces visitors with mobility limitations to experience the performance virually.
Major support for TERRA has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the 2025 Creative Sector Flex Fund, a program by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
