Faulty Trail 195
Four Poems for Two Performers (B-Flat Clarinet, voice/spoken word, and movement)
Composed for performers Clara Byom and Joshua Lorris as part of the Tree Being project, Faulty Trail 195 takes its name from a hiking trail in New Mexico's Sandia Mountains, home to a scattered collection of trees that have been carbon-dated and named for events coinciding with their growth (such as 'Huygens' Manometer' or 'Galileo's Death,') and each marked with a small metal medallion bearing its name and year.
The piece began as a shared prompt: find a medallion tree, spend an hour with it, and enact some creative response to its presence. Clara carried out this exploration first, returning with notes, photographs, video, and recordings of her time with the tree. Lauren then repeated the same prompt along the same trail.
The four poems that make up Faulty Trail 195 emerged from these two parallel encounters. The piece invites the two performers to reflect individually and with one another, on how we change within the landscapes and amongst the living things that also change around us.
Above: Clara Byom and Emmaly Wiederholt perform Faulty Trail 195 at Maple Street Dance Space. Photo by Leilani Brothers.
Clara Byom and Joshua Lorris Perform Faulty Trail 195
Video by Clara Byom and Joshua Lorris
Josua Lorris performs Faulty Trail 195 at the UNM CFA Downtown Gallery. Photo by Randi Thompson.