photography by rick liu
Of Feather and Bone
The great blue heron rises, a spell drawn from still water — guardian of the forgotten memories only music can recall.
A dance work by
Sophia Tweed Ahmad in collaboration with Musician Didi Wyss.
This story began to gestate during my Emergent Artist Residency at Centrum this past October. Spending time with the Salish Sea and all the creatures, specifically a great blue heron that flew around me and perched onto a nearby pier, their ethereal magic captured me. That experience has evolved into this story about my life, with a strong presence of Saturnial energy as I close my Saturn Return. The gold kurta the character Elder wears was altered by my grandmother Nasra, the heron’s wings and cardamom shirt are my creations. Woven into the soundscapes are piano fragments I composed, alongside recordings of my dad’s voice & my own. The acoustic song is an original composition of mine initially written in Spanish, the lyrics have been translated into Urdu with the help of the Phupho and set to a new melody, reworked in collaboration with sound artist Didi Wyss.
roots transplanted overtime,
names slowly shifted to fit in the mouth of english,
Assalam o Alaikum,
remember us,
sophia tvedt sanori,
great granddaughter of stargazers & land tenders,
remember our prayers in song,
our medicine,
cardamom & fennel,
Assalam o Alaikum,
remember the curves in the land of five rivers,
hot afternoons,
chai, chai & more chai,
Assalam o Alaikum,
piano fingers,
dewy mist from the sea,
re member
~ sophia tweed ahmad
The great blue heron rises, a spell drawn from still water — guardian of the forgotten memories only music can recall.
A dance work by
Sophia Tweed Ahmad in collaboration with Musician Didi Wyss.
This story began to gestate during my Emergent Artist Residency at Centrum this past October. Spending time with the Salish Sea and all the creatures, specifically a great blue heron that flew around me and perched onto a nearby pier, their ethereal magic captured me. That experience has evolved into this story about my life, with a strong presence of Saturnial energy as I close my Saturn Return. The gold kurta the character Elder wears was altered by my grandmother Nasra, the heron’s wings and cardamom shirt are my creations. Woven into the soundscapes are piano fragments I composed, alongside recordings of my dad’s voice & my own. The acoustic song is an original composition of mine initially written in Spanish, the lyrics have been translated into Urdu with the help of the Phupho and set to a new melody, reworked in collaboration with sound artist Didi Wyss.
roots transplanted overtime,
names slowly shifted to fit in the mouth of english,
Assalam o Alaikum,
remember us,
sophia tvedt sanori,
great granddaughter of stargazers & land tenders,
remember our prayers in song,
our medicine,
cardamom & fennel,
Assalam o Alaikum,
remember the curves in the land of five rivers,
hot afternoons,
chai, chai & more chai,
Assalam o Alaikum,
piano fingers,
dewy mist from the sea,
re member
~ sophia tweed ahmad
Shaking the Tree Theatre
Open Space Residency ///// July 2026
40 min
Open Space Residency ///// July 2026
40 min