An Offering to the Land

Last Friday our 3rd grade students met with Sandra Portal-Andreu, a stunning multidisciplinary artist based out of Miami. Sandra recently performed Terra Firma at Cucalorus—a choreographed dance set to the poetic words of Indigenous environmental activist, Betty Osceola (descendent of Chief Osceola of the Miccosukee peoples). The performance invites the audience to redefine their relationships with home and to share written messages for future generations that are placed in a time capsule and offered to the land. As Sandra beautifully writes, “It is an acknowledgement for our land ancestors and an opportunity for the public to ground themselves in the communal spaces we share.” 

Our students, along with Cucalorus attendees, placed their notes in the capsule and then communally buried it among the pines at Longleaf Center. It was a moving experience—important, difficult, and deeply grounding as we enter into the holiday season. We are so immensely grateful to Sandra for sharing her work and words with us.