“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.” – Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee

The signs are there: over the past few decades, humanity’s 5000-year collaboration with the honey bee has been building toward a grim conclusion. If we fail to heed their warning, could we be casually swept into the fossil record alongside them?

Dance of the Bee is a remarkable interspecies musical collaboration; a work performed by three pianists, the vocalists of the Astra Choir and alive swarm of bees, housed inside a sculpted, transparent hive.

Woven through the mysterious song of the bees, the pieces range from soundscapes to intense virtuosic arrangements, punctuated by semi-improvised sonic excursions.

As the bees sing, live video allows us to observe the marvel of the hive at work – and to ponder on the fragile connection between our world and theirs.