THE PEACE PROCESS
durational performance | dance | film | music | installation
APRIL 29-MAY 2 / PROJECT ARTS CENTRE DUBLIN
MAY 7 + 8 / SPRINGMOVES DANCE FESTIVAL WEXFORD ARTS CENTRE
MAY 28 - 31 / C:NEN ÖSTERSUND SWEDEN
JULY 24 - AUG 16 / VAASA CITY ART HALL FINLAND
A new immersive multi-disciplinary dance work that invites audiences into a personal reflective odyssey; surrounded by river and sunlight and amongst an international dance ensemble.
Supported by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
Performers: Sara Ezzell, Marcia Liu, Anne Rowe, Elin Hedin, Maria Nilsson Waller and Stace Gill.
Flora Fauna Project presents THE PEACE PROCESS: a radical durational performance where dance, music, film and installation fuse to create a meditative ecosystem exploring the deepest cycles of evolution, conflict and harmony. This immersive work invites audiences to move freely through a unique and complex landscape, becoming reflective participants in a shared ritual for our times. The work premieres at Uillinn - West Cork Arts Centre’s Dance Season in November 2025, with subsequent performances confirmed for Spring Moves Dance Festival Wexford and Vaasa City Art Gallery, Finland in 2026.
Co-Artistic Directors Maria Nilsson Waller (choreography, design) and Stace Gill (music, film) have assembled an international ensemble of dancers and designers to realise this captivating vision. When performed the piece follows a 10-chapter score that functions as a continuous loop or spiral, “potentially performed forever” offering the artists and audiences new exploration and a unique experience each time the circular map is followed. It is a living, evolving ritual that calls our collective attention to our personal power and roles in the growing of peace frequencies. An immersive space to consider personal peace processes while acknowledging that no magic peace button exists - this is a process that will need care and attention forever.
“We have to start somewhere. We’re starting with one space, one performance, one audience at a time” says Stace Gill.
“We imagine a safe, collective, and meditative Odyssey,” says Nilsson Waller. “It is our belief that each body is a vessel for peace and war. This work is an ambitious attempt to create a space where we can feel and imagine some paths to peace together, while letting nature, light, sound, and the dancing bodies bring us into our senses.”
A Democratic Creative Process
The creation of the work itself is a testament to its theme. The directors fostered a non-hierarchical “hive mind” in the studio. “Even though we are the artistic directors, everybody in the room is equal,” says Nilsson Waller. This approach, while challenging, led to a profound discovery: “In this kind of heightened, stressed society... Words are challenging. Somehow we have to speak energetically. A symbol has so much more potential than a word in this work. That really brought us to... working with human cross-culture energy language, which is what dance is.” This work is a language of energy, and is channeled through a highly improvised performance. Dancer Sara Ezzell describes the sensation: “The world we're creating has a strong 'container' that supports the performers... It puts you into a deeper trust of the present moment. You are in live coordination with other people who are also generating at that moment... and it challenges all of us to go deeper into how we can be present and responsive without being controlling or limiting.”
Finding Peace in the Process
For the performers, the piece is a microcosm of its message. Marcia Liu reflects on how the process “contaminates everything, but in a good way,” resonating with her personal journey of finding inner peace. “We do a lot of practice to slow down... to listen and observe what is already there. Sometimes you have conflicts or you struggle or you have tension. But by giving that space to listen to that, I find that’s very much the peace process.” This practice of collective navigation is key. Ezzell shares powerful moments from rehearsal where obstacles miraculously resolve through group focus: “If you're with a room full of people, everybody's perspectives are part of that pot... the way that things can morph and solve themselves beyond your own one perspective is fascinating.”
An Invitation to a Different Realm
The audience is integral to completing this living system. The performers hope to share an experience, not just present a show. “I really have faith that a performer is about sharing, rather than only showing,” says Liu. “It’s very essential to authentically be there.”
Dancer Anne Rowe hopes audiences leave with questions for self-reflection, but wrapped in a sense of tranquility. “I would love for people to leave feeling like they’ve entered a different realm and world and ecosystem.”
The performance begins with ADHISTA, a stunning film exhibition of light and riverscapes, before guiding viewers into the central space with five dancers “We want the movement and light of the natural world to bring the audience into their own natural body rhythms,” says Nilsson Waller, we hope the films of real sunlight and water rhythms will help “recalibrate the nerves,” fostering a state that is “more stress resilient.” The work offers a safe space for an inner journey in a deeply sensorial and carefully crafted dreamed environment. This is a durational cyclical performance that is adaptable for theatres, galleries, and alternative spaces. It is a poetic and archaeological investigation into our shared humanity, designed not to provide answers, but to offer a container for profound questioning and tranquil introspection.
THE PEACE PROCESS – KEY INFORMATION
- Creators: Flora Fauna Project (Maria Nilsson Waller & Stace Gill)
- Performers: An international ensemble of five dancers (Sara Ezzell, Marcia Liu, Elin Hedin, Anne Rowe, Stace Gill and Maria Nilsson Waller)
- Creative Team: Matt Burke, Archer Bradshaw, Jacek Rzepka, Barbara Klimecka and Herman Badowski (Unique Interactive), Hanna Rosenblom and Joakim Holmqvist (tobedesigned.io).
- Music: The Sei (Ross Dowling and Stace Gill)
Runtime: Durational performance. The audience may enter, exit, and move freely. Recommended viewing time: 1,5 hours.
Media Contact:
Stace Gill
Producer and PR
hello@florafaunaproject.com
Contributing artists, so far.
Dancers: Mufutau Yusuf, Elle Fierce. Tai Chi guide: Sarah Tilivu (Fong Yi). Poet,Theologian and host of Poetry Unbound: Padraig O’Tuama
Funded by The Irish Arts Council
With special thanks to:
Hilleberg Jämtland and The Firkin Crane, Cork.
Photo 3/6-9: Pato Cassinoni
