Holy Dirt

Holy Dirt is a vibrant, funny and beautifully episodic performance that playfully explores the mythic feminine as she struggles ridiculously through our climate catastrophe. She stumbles, she dances, she transforms.

Clay, stones, water, and sand erupt across the space in a visually startling drama set to a rich global soundscape, where the rawness of earth converges with myth and ritual. Holy Dirt is performed by Vidya Thirunarayan with a second performer and is directed and designed by the creative all-rounder David Glass.

Internationally renowned as a Bharatanatyam dancer, Vidya Thirunarayan is also a prominent ceramicist, and in 2015 she began producing and promoting work that blends her dual expertise as a dancer and potter.

Her first work, Lives of Clay (2021/22), was directed by Tim Supple funded by Without Walls and Arts Council England, commissioned by Brighton Festival, Certain Blacks, with support from 101 Outdoor Arts and ArtAsia.

The performance toured 17 UK venues and was later reimagined in India in collaboration with QTP to tour flagship festivals including the Tata Literature festival, Mumbai and Serendipity Festival, Goa. 

Holy Dirt, funded by Arts Council England and InKo Centre, India and commissioned by Certain Blacks and Art Asia, premiered at Ensemble Festival in July 2025 and will embark on an international tour across the UK, India and Korea in 2026–27.