For years, Martha Larson had felt the constraints of classical music traditions. As a cellist trained primarily in classical and jazz, she was accustomed to performances where musicians remain seated, audiences stay silent, and expression is largely cerebral rather than physical.
“Music is generally performed from a seated position with very little movement aside from the motion required of arms and fingers to play the instrument,” Martha observes.
But she envisioned something different—a performance where musicians and audience alike could immerse themselves fully in sound and movement, breaking free from these long-established boundaries.
With help from a 2024 SEMAC Individual Artist grant, “There Is No Ground” emerged as Martha’s answer to this creative challenge. Collaborating with choreographer Shari Setchell and fellow musicians Wendy Placko and Brian Johnson, Martha set out to incorporate dance and embodied movement into live, improvised music performance. Their goal wasn’t merely to add movement to music but to fundamentally reimagine the relationship between sound, body, and space.
The creative process began with Shari’s guidance through warm-up exercises that taught the ensemble a shared physical vocabulary. These sessions introduced basic somatic movement concepts that would become the foundation for their original compositions. The process of translating these concepts into actual performance pieces didn’t come without unexpected complexities. “Some of the challenges were physical,” Martha explains, “as each musician figured out the logistics of what movements we could or couldn’t do with our instruments strapped to our bodies.” Others were emotional, as the performers navigated the vulnerability of moving in unfamiliar ways while building trust as an ensemble.
Despite these challenges—or perhaps because of them—moments of genuine connection emerged. When the group found their groove, both physically and emotionally, the experience was rewarding. They were creating something that transcended traditional performance categories, something that existed in the space between concert and dance.
The project extended its collaborative spirit beyond the ensemble to include the wider community. At Northfield’s Big Woods Movement Collective Annual Canopy Jam (https://www.bigwoodscollective.org/about), Martha and her collaborators rolled out a large canvas and invited festival attendees to contribute. People splattered, spilled, brushed, and stamped paint across the surface. During the capstone performance two weeks later on August 3rd, 2024, this community-created artwork was displayed in the center aisle of the Northfield Depot, serving as both décor and a symbolic invitation to active participation.
Throughout the August 3rd capstone performance, audience members were encouraged to engage with the music in ways rarely permitted in traditional concerts. The culmination came with the final piece, which began with a slow, reflective rendition of “You Are My Sunshine” on bassoon before transforming into an up-tempo celebration. The musicians led the audience in a New Orleans-style “second line” procession around the performance space, dissolving the boundary between performer and observer. “The whole audience joined in singing three or four part harmonies,” Martha recalls, “which was a delightful and uplifting finish to the show.”
The response was overwhelmingly positive. Many attendees commented they had “never seen anything like this before” or “hadn’t seen anything this captivating and creative for a very long time.”
For Martha, “There Is No Ground” represents just the beginning of a new artistic direction. The project has reinforced her commitment to exploring non-traditional approaches to cello performance and collaborative creation. She plans to continue working with these artists to further develop the innovative intersection of music and movement they’ve begun to map together.
In the end, the project’s title became its most powerful metaphor—when there is no ground, artists can discover a world of pure creative potential.
The culminating exhibition at Lanesboro Arts in March 2024 displayed Bell’s artistic exploration. Each piece told a story of experimentation and growth, drawing strong community interest. “The grant gave me freedom to experiment and play with clay in ways that I otherwise might not have,” she shares, recognizing SEMAC’s role in advancing her creative development.
