Answered by: Martin Friedel (composer and amateur beekeeper)
Briefly describe your show: Dance Of The Bee is a musical reflection on our relationship with the honey bee. About 30% of the food we eat depends on bee pollination. The survival of bees is under increasing threat from diseases spread by globalisation, industrial scale farming, the use of pesticides, climate change — all connected with our greedy wasteful existence. Dance Of The Bee is an 'interspecies collaboration' — there is a transparent hive, containing about 20,000 bees onstage. Video images of the bees are projected onto two large screens. Contact mics capture the song of the bees, mixing it with the sound of three grand pianos and the 30-voice Astra Choir to produce amazing soundscapes and music to accompany the images of the bees at work.
How did the idea come about? I have kept a backyard hive for more than 30 years. There is a working hive outside my studio and listening to their songs over many years inspired me to create Dance Of The Bee.
What's another bee fact that people might not know? Bees can count up to four, and can recognise and remember individual human faces. To collect one teaspoon of honey, 12 bees must fly a total of 10,000km.
When and where is your show? Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall, 11—13 Sep.
Website for more info? melbourne.vic.gov.au/ArtsHouse/Program/Pages/DanceoftheBee.aspx
