“The tree is forming a bond in the community, as it is neutral and non-judgemental.” says Rosemary Lee, the co-creator of the Calling Tree festival being held in Bruce Castle Park this week. The choreographer, who lives in Muswell Hill, has been working with her colleague and friend, Simon Whitehead, to develop a show that reminds audiences of their connection to the environment.

The 500-year-old oak tree that sits in the park in Tottenham is being taken over by performers who will read poetry, play the violin and dance on the boughs.

Rosemary explains why the tree is helping to bring together many different communities in the area, as they share their memories of climbing it and learn more about the history and its significance to Bruce Castle.

She says: “It is Tottenham’s tree. It speaks to everyone, especially as it is such a diverse borough and many people can communicate with each other through the tree, despite speaking in different languages.

“We see people in the park every day and they always talk about climbing the tree when they were little and always say they can’t find trees for their children to climb anymore but wish they could. Climbing trees in our gardens and parks made us agile and strong in our youth, with good balance and children just do not seem to have those opportunities anymore.

“We’re here to remind people the tree is here and will probably outlive us all. It is a wonderful, ancient specimen and continues to live through injuries of boughs being lost and bad weather and climate change. It is a wonderful symbol of nature’s power and strength and also beauty, with an iconic quality as oaks have long been associated with England.”

Rosemary created her show to fit on a 250-year-old tall tree in Snowdonia, in North Wales, last year but admits she has had to rework the performance for the oak tree in Bruce Castle.

She says: “It is a very large tree with huge limbs and the trunk is really big. It takes around three or four people to get their arms around it and although it looks it easy to climb, there aren’t many places to hold onto as it is so old.

“The performers sit up there on the branches but have ropes for safety. There is skill to performing on the tree, as they are clipped in while also singing and we recommend only the performers go on the tree.

“There’s going to be four performers plus a visiting choir, with songs, spoken word and bits of movement on the tree. It’ll look like they live in the tree, as they are going to be there for four hours and sometimes it will go quiet or there will be a flurry of people.”

Rosemary wanted to create Calling Tree to educate both young and older people about the importance of trees for the environment.

She says: “We work all over the country to promote trees and remind people they have nature all around them and they need to watch over it. In the midst of an urban city like London, there are beautiful trees.

“You make relationships with the local people who live around the tree and you learn the context of it and see how many people appreciate it but at the same time, they also do not realise the extent that the tree affects them.

“We do need trees, as without them we wouldn’t be here. We’ve been working with primary school children from the local schools and explaining to them that the tree breathes out oxygen and breathes in our carbon dioxide and we talked about the tree’s cycle of breath being completely connected with us. Without them, we wouldn’t be alive and the children were amazed and didn’t realise. Taking them to an actual tree where they can stand under it and say it is breathing makes the tree very much more real for them.

“It’s an important message and it would be lovely if we could carry on the festival as a tradition in years to come, with our gatherings hopefully having a legacy.”

Calling Tree, Bruce Castle Park, Lordship Lane, Tottenham, N17 8NU, Thursday June 30 to Saturday July 2, 4pm. Details: 020 7650 2350, liftfestival.com/events/calling-tree