Global Water Dance project Started
I have officially started the Global Water Dance project here in the Pacific Northwest! I’ll include more information here - mainly video clips and project progress. The message of this project is protecting the water and calling the salmon back home, after being gone for over 80 years. Global Water Dance is a global project initiated by the Laban Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS). Groundwork has officially started!
The Columbia River connects 2 countries, 3 states, links many cultures and industries and shaped the history of the Pacific Northwest. Looking forward to connecting over this next year with those interested in environmental education, water protection, moving in nature, PNW art, somatic movement, dance, site specific dance, ecology, environmental law, fisheries, and deep listening to the perspectives of the indigenous people of the Columbia River Basin.
Over half of the 1243 mile Columbia River is blocked from salmon migration for all species of salmon - a 645 stretch upstream of Grand Coulee Dam (in the middle of Washington state) to the headwaters in Canada are blocked to upstream migration. The upper reaches are one of the few free-flowing sections of this river, and the headwaters contain one of the longest intact wetlands in North America and are listed as a Ramsar Convention Wetland. Despite the size of this behemoth dam - the Grand Coulee Dam (>600 feet high), the movement to bring salmon back and get them over this dam is real and happening.
Native American tribes, First Nations people, biologists, fishers, natural resource managers, lovers of nature, politicians, environmental advocates, environmental regulators, and entire communities await the return of the salmon, as do the rivers themselves. The salmon replenish the lands and water with marine-derived nutrients and are keystone ecosystem species here and all over the West, though endangered or threatened over most of their range. They are the bringers of hope, symbols of resilience, and an answer to the prayers of people who have been waiting for almost a century for their return.
#GlobalWaterDances
#LabanNature
#DanceEcology
#Danceyourgratitude
#LatindancerSpokane