“Turn your face towards the tombstone blues of left over time, forever, nowhere, nothing time, the crumbling perpetual of graveyards and ashes. Step lightly into long time, still time. Turn up the music and begin a slow dance. Welcome the pale grey, the shivering grey of a longed-for landscape, cold, silent, beautiful, like snow on hills under a darkening sky. Connect with me here, embrace me there, enmeshed, in a dance of twists and turns, like the underground roots of a trembling forest.“
Imagined as a Live Art Ballet, The Trembling Forest is directed by emilyn claid and devised in collaboration with Azara, Eve Stainton, Martin O’Brien, Ming and Orrow Bell. The work draws on the spontaneous physicality of live art practices together with the scenic, choreographic structures of balletic traditions. Encounters between this company are staged amidst a forest of queer people, each painted with clay, who crack, shiver, tremble and decay. The Trembling Forest evokes a macabre, surreal, grotesque and beautiful world, where life force and death drive intertwine.
The process of working with the Chorus, drawn publics local to the venue, is at the heart of the work.
The Trembling Forest is produced by Future Ritual premiered at CEREMONY, our festival of performance, ritual and choreography. A further performance took place at Dance International Glasgow 2025.
The process of working with the Chorus, drawn publics local to the venue, is at the heart of the work.
The Trembling Forest is produced by Future Ritual premiered at CEREMONY, our festival of performance, ritual and choreography. A further performance took place at Dance International Glasgow 2025.
Collaborators
The Trembling Forest is choreographed and directed by emilyn claid and devised in collaboration with Azara, Eve Stainton, Martin O’Brien, Ming and Orrow Bell.The project is produced by Future Ritual.
Design by Shanti Freed
Sound design by Lottie Poulet
Lighting design by Rachel Shipp
Enquires
For all matters, please write to producing@futureritual.co.uk.Further Info
> Future Ritual: emilyn claid
> @emilynclaid
London Chorus
Carolyn Naish, Chloe D’Allio, Dani Dinger, E.M. Parry, Eliza Cass, Emelia Holdaway, Iona Hannagan Lewis, Lauren Wright, Loren McK, Manuela Albrecht, Matteo Mottram, Piotr Marchewka, Sarah Gottlieb, Stefan John Reekie, Nan Zhu.Funders and support
The Trembling Forest has been produced by Future Ritual, London and co- commissioned by Wysing Arts Centre and Future Ritual. The project is supported by Arts Council England and Knotenpunkt, with further support given by The Place, Rose Choreographic School and Queen Mary University of London.
emilyn claid, The Trembling Forest, 2025. Still from video by Baiba Sprance and Marco Berardi.Letting go of things
an intensive workshop with emilyn claidAs part of The Trembling Forest project, emilyn lead an intensive movement workshop titled Letting go of things. The workshop is open to people, across arts and theraputic disciplines, who enjoy exploring movement and improvisation, individually and in relation, and who are attentive to queer sensibilities.
Mon 17th - Fri 21st March, 10.30am to 5pm, Stanley Arts (South Norwood, London)
> More info
> Booking link
emilyn claid. Photo by Henri T.