A Forest Love Letter is a dance in three parts inspired by the visual language of the nomadic Penan tribe of Sarawak. Their code of communication called Forest Letter appears in the form of vegetation on a twig along the forest trail.

 

The quartet in part I has dancers intertwined and bound together like roots and branches – the same sense of connection and rootedness we have to our family and community. The solos of part II are individual remembrance of love loss expressed intimately by each dancer’s attachment to their own forest object. The constant coming and going of dancers in part III marks the drifting and scattering of life cycle in the rainforest. The indigenous visual code of the Penan tribe, along with deforestation and extinction of many wildlife species, is bound to disappear like spinning blooms falling from the trees onto the silent forest floor.

 

A collaboration with The Arts Fission Company, these dances are presented in Stereoscopic VR360° and are best viewed on a VR headset.