Set off on a sensory walk

Participants exploring the Sensory Walk. Picture: ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AUTHORITY (EPA).

By Taylah Eastwell

Community members are invited to take part in a playful, interactive walking experience on Mt Dandenong these school holidays.

As part of a curated program devised by local dancers and artists Environmental Performance Authority (EPA), a sensory walk will be taking place until 26 January.

The sensory walk is a playful interactive walking experience along the paths of Mt Dandenong, offering sensitive and creative provocations that can be undertaken at any time.

The walk begins at Trig Track car park, opposite the CFA on Ridge Road in Kalorama, and ends at Mt Corhanwarrabul (also known as Burke’s Lookout Reserve).

By going to https://dancingplacecorhanwarrabul.com/sensory-walk/ on a phone or device, visitors can click on an interactive map to view 10 pinned sites along the Mt Dandenong paths and read a suggested task for each site.

Visitors are then encouraged to upload to the same website their response for each site, in the form of a text, photo, short video or sound recording.

The sensory walk is a family friendly, easy to moderate walk (with a few steep bits) that is great for encouraging observation of nature.

Visitors should allow 1.5 to two hours including return.

Responses can be uploaded to the website until 26 January 2021.

The Sensory Walk has been devised as part of Dancing Place: Corhanwarrabul, a program curated by local artist/dancer Gretel Taylor, produced by BodyPlaceProject and supported by Yarra Ranges Council and RidgeWalk.

Ms Taylor said “people who look at the website can go for a walk along the track from Kalorama to Mt Corhanwarrabul. They can go to points on the map and do sensory activities to enhance their ideas of the place.”