I encountered the text “‘A Holding Space’ – Emergence and Entanglement in Tree Spaces” by Victoria Hunter because I had my text in the same book. Participating in Routledge Companion to Site-Specific Performance edited by Victoria Hunter and Cathy Turner was an honour, although I am not so proud of my own contribution “Trees as experts in Site-specificity”. Other writings from Örö, like the old text which was peer reviewed and rejected several times “Writing with a Pine: Addressing a Tree as Audience” (2023) and the recent text “Pondering with Örö Pines: Talking with Trees as an Undisciplinary Method” for Plant Perspectives were also made in collaboration with the pines on Örö, but they are more carefully maintaining a balance between theoretical references and my own reflections, I think. The handbook is certainly an interesting collection of texts and the section related to ecological themes where my contribution is placed as well ends with Vicky Hunter’s chapter ‘Holding Space’, which I was immediately interested in. The focus on a participatory dance performance as a healing experience after the traumatic lockdown experiences during Covid makes it more distant to my concerns. The strong emphasis on touching and being touched and especially the idea of ancient yew trees providing an example of another kind of temporality I could immediately relate to. To my delight she mentions my old work Tree Calendar together with Nigel Stewart’s piece The Dusk Wood with Ellen Jeffrey as a performer in a footnote to complement some recent outdoor performance works. She does not refer to any publication, though, not even “Becoming a Tree with a Tree” published in JDSP, Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, which might have had some relevance. Or then not. Site dance is probably a world of its own, as is the UK scene of site-specific performance, at least to some extent. It is funny to think how that discourse has evolved during my time in scholarly contexts. In the 1990’s when I searched for the term site-specific for my doctoral work the only thing I found was a text about street theatre and buskers. And now, after years of much site-work, emphasising the physical site seems almost old fashioned when many scholars focus on virtual reality, migration and digitalisation. The key observation by Hunter that trees provide a ‘holding space’ is nevertheless relevant, I think. She writes:
 
The notion of a holding space stems from Donald Winnicott’s (1958, 1960) work in psycho­therapy and describes the entwined, subjective and objective mother-child relationship. According to Winnicott, the mother holds a space in which the child is nurtured and makes discoveries whilst contained within a safe, nurturing (yet not overly controlling) environment. Whilst there has been a subsequent feminist critique of Winnicott’s work and its essentialising approach to mothering (Barlow 2004; Hollway 2011), the model of a holding space is useful to describe a temporary, malleable and ongoing space of process in which relationships are forged and self-identity and self-awareness fostered. (Hunter 366)
She further notes:
In this project, a holding space refers to the encounter between body and site in a tree space demarcated by the temporary form of the trees and the clearings made as part of their natural formation.The living form of the tree is defined by its ongoing-ness; trees are not static entities; however, tree time is so slow that their evolution is not overtly perceptible, and the slow evolution and retrenchment of trees are not always apparent./–/ Tree time sits in opposition to human-made measurements of time… as Sumana Roy observes ‘it [is] impossible to rush plants, to tell a tree to hurry up’ (Roy 2017: 3). Tree time is both ancient and evolving… (Hunter 366-367)
 
Yes, tree time… Perhaps I should turn to Sumana Roy’s book next. The title at least is alluring: How I became a Tree.
 
References:
 
Arlander, Annette. 2025. “Trees as experts in Site-specificity”. In Hunter, Victoria and Cathy Turner (eds.) Routledge Companion to Site-Specific Performance, London & New York: Routledge, 318-328.
 
— 2025. “Pondering with Örö Pines: Talking with Trees as an Undisciplinary Method”. Plant Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.3197/WHPPP.63845494909748
 
— 2023. “Writing with a Pine: Addressing a Tree as Audience.” Näyttämö Ja Tutkimus, 9, 103–120. Retrieved from https://journal.fi/teats/article/view/127615
 
— 2022. “Becoming a Tree with a Tree”. Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices Vol. 14 Number 2 2022, p.231-248. https://doi.org/10.1386/jdsp_00081_1
 
Hunter, Victoria. 2025. “‘A Holding Space’ Emergence and Entanglement in Tree spaces”. In Hunter, Victoria and Cathy Turner (eds.) Routledge Companion to Site-Specific Performance, London & New York: Routledge, 361-373.
 
Roy, Sumana. 2017. How I became a Tree. New Delhi: Aleph Book Company.