What Lies Beneath is a retelling of the Persephone and Demeter myths — a sensual, poetic descent into the underworld of the self. Inspired by women’s lived experiences of menarche (first bleeding) and menopause (the great pause), this work traverses the sacred thresholds of becoming, unraveling, and returning. Through movement, music, and ancestral voices, it invites us to honour grief, reclaim the body, and reawaken the deep cycles of womanhood and nature. Above ground, the temple has fallen and species slip into extinction. Below, seeds lie forgotten.
Drawn by the cries of the dead and the stirrings of her own longing, Persephone embarks on a journey into the underworld. Her mother, Demeter, is left to grieve — not only the loss of her daughter, but the erosion of ancient rituals and the rhythms that once bound us to each other and the Earth. A remembering — of blood and seed, of bloom and decay, of feminine power rising from the dark.
written by sarah miller
directed by cassandra fumi
