Save the last dance for the trees

Written By Peter Allan

Flash mob dance in Saanich for an old-growth day of action. Photo by Mya Van Woudenberg, Sierra Club BC

 

By Patricia Lane & Amalia Schelhorn

These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Amalia Schelhorn taught Victoria, B.C., to dance to protect old-growth. This one-time National Ballet of Canada soloist helped bring media attention to the call to end old-growth logging in British Columbia by choreographing and organizing community dance protests.

Tell us about this work.

In the spring of 2021, I went to visit the Fairy Creek blockades. My awe for the ancient forests was matched by horror at all the clearcuts. I asked the activists what they needed and they told me they needed publicity. I thought, “I can do that.”

I know the media likes visual and performing arts and, as a dancer and teacher, I had good networks. I choreographed and taped a dance to Bruce Cockburn’s If a Tree Falls and contacted everyone I could think of. I got permission to use the lawn of the legislative buildings, found a sound person and a videographer, notified the media, held Zoom rehearsals… Three days later, 40 people, young and old, showed up to Dance for the Ancient Forests.

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Peter Allan
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