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2026 · Dance – stage work

Before We Were Trees

Melecio Estrella and Damara Vita Ganley

A diptych of dance and song performed in and around a rigged cedar tree at Montalvo Arts Center's 2026 Marcus Festival, living in response to the site's art, architecture, landscape and people.

Recollections

“This was made in the hot summer of 2026 as part of a residency at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California. We had to stop rehearsal at 10am due to heat. The final product ended up being two songs that we recklessly crashed together. The Spider song was originally performed by Fog Beast in Alameda.

Sadly, I was working another gig and did not get to see this performance.”

Ben
Premiere
2026-07-17
Venue
Montalvo Arts Center (Marcus Festival 2026, 'Enter if You Dare'), Front Lawn cedar tree
Where
Saratoga, CA
Performances
July 17, 2026: 6:30 pm and 8 pm on the Front Lawn (cedar tree). The same artists also performed at 7:15 pm in the Italianate Garden at the installation 'Double Vision: Doorway'.
Credits
Created and performed by Melecio Estrella and Damara Vita Ganley (dance and song), Lucas Artists Program 2023 Fellows. Tree rigging by Derrick (BANDALOOP rigger). Music: Ben Juodvalkis, two pieces: “tree” for the cedar and “Door” for the Double Vision: Doorway performance (not credited on the festival listing).

Ephemera

Damara in a red shirt hanging in a climbing harness against the trunk of a huge cedar, bare feet braced on the bark and arms open, palm trees behind

Damara on the cedar, from rehearsal

Ben seated at a folding table with a laptop and keyboard beside a path under palms and conifers, a speaker and bags on the ground around him

Me running playback at rehearsal

Mele and Damara in the doorway sculpture at dusk
Rehearsal at the cedar, the evening before tech

  • Damara singing my Spider song with her new verse

Damara’s lyric draft, the start of the title.

Damara: Before we were soil Before we were roots You planted me and i became 80 feet tall Maybe over a 100 years the fires cames the water too i stayed and here are you hands on me We pretend to know where we are going but the sky changes color every day And i keep growing But we stay right here

The chorus of an old song I brought in.

Ben: Our love is like a raindrop That falls into the fire But who would make the rain stop Just turn the flames up higher Cause you’re my cedar and I’m your little spider

Mele’s text after tech, the night before the show.

Melecio: Damaras a lighting designer Mele and damara are audio techs now too

My text on show morning, when I couldn’t be there.

Ben: If you see a squirrel or a spider watching, that’s actually me

Press

“A diptych of dance and song at intimate altitudes – between earth and sky, hand and ear, nervous system and ground.”

“Lucas Artists Fellow Melecio Estrella in collaboration with Damara Ganley brings site-responsive performances to life across the grounds.”

Elsewhere

More with the same people

Ben Juodvalkis © 2026