All the World is Green

Supported in part by New England Foundation for the Arts, Garet&Co is proud to have pieced together the successful creations of several works-in-processes to create a performance exploring both the fear and the numbness that surrounds climate disaster. The two original works that exist within this now completed piece, titled "WONDERFUL" and "i kinda wish the apocalypse would just happen already," have been dominant pieces of repertoire in Garet&Co's rehearsals and performances. The new completed piece, "All the World is Green," is an illustration of an intrusive thought. In our world of constant headlines blaring a new disaster every hour, a sense of numbness seems to be settling in. Many of us want to push for change, and be a part of protecting the earth and our civilization for future generations. But each time we read about all the devastating atrocities humans have committed on the earth, perhaps a small part of us hopes that the world would just end. We are tired of feeling scared of the end, and sometimes, in our intrusive thoughts, even find ourselves wishing for it.

More about Garet’s intentions behind the piece:

“All the World is Green” begins with an onimous group section, where we hope the audience will feel a sense of both anticipation and uncertainty. This tension breaks with an a cappella version of "What a Wonderful World," eliciting a feeling of individual contemplation, where a sense of complexity is immediately at play. From there, the rest of the dancers "wake up" to interact with the soloist, and we dive into a world of movement that evokes a similar feeling as "Alice in Wonderland." The movement and music begins with a sense of wonder but then devolves into anger, showcasing a sense of hatefulness and rage towards the people around us. This anger, slowly boiling to frustration, eventually gives way to exhaustion. This sense of exhaustion is when we tap into the concept of numbness, moving to lyrics portraying a terrifying sense of inevitable doom but moving with little care or energy. The piece ends with a cover of "Life on Mars" (David Bowie), where both the dancers and the audience contemplate what is left for us on earth- and if there is no earth, what is left for us at all.

The works-in-process that have merged to become "All the World is Green" have both been dominant pieces of repertoire in Garet&Co's processes over several years, and have been vital to the company's artistic success. The first work, "WONDERFUL," started as a dance film (2021) and was first developed as a stage work in 2022 when Garet Wierdsma (director) was selected as Sacred Heart University's Emerging Choreographer Fellowship Recipient. After initial development at the university, Garet&Co continued to workshop the piece for performances including "Dance Bloc NYC" (2022) and "5X5 Dance Festival" (2022). The second work, "i kinda wish the apocalypse would just happen already" was first created by Garet&Co for the company's self-produced "ECLIPSE" in early 2024. In June 2025, Garet&Co was selected to extend upon the piece for Dixon Place's "Fast Forward" series.