‘Bowland Beth’ is a collaboration between Kingsbridge- based choreographer Catherine Seymour and film- maker David Lefeber. Inspired by the poem ‘Bowland Beth’ by David Harsent, it is an elegy to Beth, a Hen Harrier born and tagged on the wild moors of the Forest Bowland in Lancashire, and illegally shot before she could breed. The score is composed by Rob Godman and danced by Zoe Arshamian.
'We hope that our film might, in some small way, raise awareness so that the successive generations know the thrill of seeing them sky dance, and cherish them and steward them and their habitat.' - Catherine Seymour
Bowland Beth
The film represents Beth, as portrayed in Harsent’s poem from his collection, ‘Fire Songs’ (2014) and Godman’s score. ‘Bowland Beth’ follows a woman walking alone in the hills. As she walks, she moves deeper into Beth’s elemental world of high moorland, wind and sky. She revels in the freedom of the landscape, in the pleasure of her body moving, in all that she can see and hear.
Encountering Beth’s spirit in the unique landscape, the sense of threat grows and becomes inescapable as Arshamian dances the bird’s untimely end as described in Harsent’s poem. Godman’s haunting soundscore is built from readings of the poem and the natural sounds from Bowland.
When choreographing the movement, Seymour aimed to embody the in-the-moment presence of the bird. The dance explores the specific movements of the Hen Harrier’s flight, moments of stillness and the connection between her head and her tail. The film is a meditation in dance, cinematography, music and poetry, filmed on location in the high moorland of Lancashire. ‘Bowland Beth’ also acts as a piece of activism, drawing our attention to the plight of the Hen Harrier.
Bowland Beth, Film Still. Courtesy of the Artist.
Bowland Beth, Film Still. Courtesy of the Artist.
Hen Harrier
Commonly called the Sky Dancer, for the dizzying acrobatics of their courtship flight, the Hen Harrier’s population is declining. They are the UK’s most persecuted bird of prey, in the face of illegal killing. The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reported that while the UK habitat could support around 2,650 pairs of Hen Harriers, there were only 575 existing (2016).
This beautiful bird can occasionally be spotted overwintering on Dartmoor but sadly no longer breeds here. Overwintering is when some birds move to different habitats for the winter season because conditions in their normal habitat can make survival difficult.
The Exhibition
In the first room of the gallery, you can watch the film ‘Bowland Beth’.
In the second space there are drawings made by members of the Kingsbridge community, produced in free Harbour House workshops led by Catherine Seymour and Creative Enabler Lauren Pomfret with children and young people at Kingsbridge Community Primary School, Kingsbridge Community College and members of the community aged over-55. These workshops explored the flight and plight
of the Hen Harrier through movement and mark-making.
In the resource area at the back of the gallery you are invited to take part in a free drop-in movement and mindfulness based activity, which you can either do here or at home.
Bowland Beth, 2023. Credit: Dom Moore.
Bowland Beth, 2023. Credit: Dom Moore.
Bowland Beth, 2023. Credit: Dom Moore.
Collaboration behind Bowland Beth
COLLABORATORS
Zoe Arshamian: trained at Central School of Ballet and the Royal Ballet School in London. Arshamian has performed with the Birmingham Royal Ballet in ‘Nutcracker’ and ‘Cinderella’ as well as in ‘Dr. Semmelweis’ at Harold Pinter Theatre, London (Jun-Oct 2023). Further credits include HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’.
Rob Godman: is a composer and sound designer who explores the musicality and ‘sound’ of language, with particular focus on regional dialects and accents. Godman’s work has been featured in films and installations internationally ‘To Be Here’ (AHRC Research in Film Awards 2018) by Sam Jury as well as ‘That You Must Remember’ (2021/22) a multichannel installation in Istanbul and Belgrade. He is currently Reader in Music, University of Hertfordshire.
David Harsent: is a poet and his work is published by Faber & Faber. His collections include; ‘Night’ 2012 (Griffin International Poetry Prize), ‘Fire Songs’ 2014 (T.S. Eliot Prize). Faber will publish a new collection in 2024. Harsent’s collaborations with composers, including Harrison Birtwistle, have been performed at the Royal Opera House, the Salzburg Festival, the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall, New York.
David Lefeber: is a classical-music record producer /sound engineer, and a filmmaker specialising in the performing arts. Their practice includes music- performance films and arts documentaries. They are currently writing and developing their first feature film, with dance and mental health issues at its core. Bowland Beth is the second of a series of films in ongoing collaboration with Catherine Seymour. The first, ‘We Who Stood Upon This Place’, filmed along the river Plym, and screened at The Space, Dartington, 2019, explored the idea of generations of women succeeding each other walking to the mouth of the river, waiting for loved ones
to return from sea, or yearning to journey across it.
Catherine Seymour: is a choreographer who enjoys interdisciplinary collaborations that form the heart of her practice. Projects range from a residency year at the Royal Festival Hall, London, to ‘Fresh Dairy Cream’, an Architecture week gig in a Hackney kitchen, East London, involving a lot of chocolate eclairs!
As with the Bowland Beth ‘Sky Dancer’ workshops for the Kingsbridge community, she most enjoys exploring and developing participants’ own creativity. As a yoga teacher her main aim is to bring students greater mental and physical ease. Breathing practices, meditation and deep relaxation also creates space for new creative ideas.
