2000 Onwards – A lifetime in dance

A Feather On The Breath Of God is a major work inspired by the extraordinary life of the visionary nun Hildegard of Bingen.

Using music composed by Hildegard herself, interspersed with her mystical words, this work was danced first in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Bronwyn Judge danced the abbess Hildegard, and Suzanne Renner her vision. Words spoken by Terry MacTavish.

The most recent reconstruction of the work took place back in St. Paul’s for the Leap Dance Symposium in 2020, as a tribute to Shona the year after her death. Bronwyn led the choreographic elements of the reconstruction, passing the torch to the dancers of today – and her role to Heather Hubber.

Composed by Professor Colin Gibson, this piece celebrates his life work as a world reknowned composer of hymns.

Following the performance at Maori Hill Church, the dancers emerged to find it was snowing! They proceeded to joyfully dance again on the snow-covered grass.

Ruth Arnison was the artist in residence at Olveston in 2014, and during which time, she wrote many poems later published including I Want To Dance. This poem was about a blue vase in Olveston that hears a cello and longs to dance. Terry organized the reading of the poems at end of residency performance, with the final poem featuring Shona dancing, to Terry’s reading and the cello playing of Heleen Du Plessis.

The photographs were taken when Shona performed the work with Terry at the Rozelle School of Visual Arts in Sydney, Australia, for a Bodenwieser Ballet Reunion in 2016.

The second video was taken during an interview with a dance researcher at a later point.