Temple Water Dances: Reflections on World Water Day
This past Sunday, I attended “Temple Water Dances,” an interactive performance in honor of National Water Day.
This performance was a multi-media project inspired by the work of the students of Merian Soto, a coveted Temple dance faculty member. This brief production created a lasting effect by bringing together dancers, environmentalists and activists, entering a place that allows science and art to interact.
As a dancer and environmentalist, I was incredibly moved by the way that our movement emulates and influences the cyclical nature of water, and how we can say so much about the state of our world with only body language. The intent of many pieces frolicked on the border between desperation due to the state of the world water crisis and hope for a better tomorrow.
Merian Soto and water activist Tony DiLodovico began the performance, speaking with a discerning confidence that opened the audience’s eyes about how we can sustain – our most prized resource – water.
“Temple Water Dances” highlighted some of the most important reasons why we must take action now before the world water crisis progresses further.
Inequitable Use of Water: Waste not want not
During “Temple Water Dances,” MFA student Leslie Zakiya Cornish walked solemnly across the stage, a wooden bowl atop her head, while videos of students mindlessly filling up plastic water bottles, and participating in the ALS ice bucket challenge, flashed behind her. This Louisiana-born dancer made a lasting statement through the comparison of unsustainable water practice in the U.S. and the decreasing supply of drinkable water in developing countries.
As much as you thought that getting ice dumped on your head was a major contributor to the ALS community, many ignored the amount of water that added up that was far from helpful for the planet.
Of course we love our water parks, fountains, and water balloon fights, but it has been unveiled to the U.S. that if we continue our careless water practices, we won’t be able to enjoy a glass of clean water in the near future.
The USGS School of Water science approximates that we use 2-2.5 gallons of water per minute we stand in the shower. Most participants in the ice bucket challenge used at least 4 gallons on average.
As a finite resource, the amount of water on the planet is not increasing, however we can still move towards sustaining what we have left. Fixing a leaking faucet quickly or catching rainwater are small forces that work towards one more clean glass of water for the future.
Commodification of water: Our money is melting
Senior dancer Kailey McCrudden stood statuesque, encaged by a metal bucket catching slow and steady drips from the hunk of ice she held in her bare numbing hands. Kailey, clad in a purple gown, crumbled seamlessly into a heap on the ground for an hour and a half aside many dynamic dances. Atop her hunk of ice lay a number of pennies, which she explained by the simple statement, our money is melting.
Kailey, who rocks a shaved head all year-round, dedicated this performance to depicting the effects of privatization of water: what it continues to do to our economy and our most prized resource. She enlightened us of the connection between companies privatizing and selling clean water for up to a 35% profit with the loss of accessibility of our “life source.”
As the ice melted, pennies hit the ground with sharp “tings,” depicting that our water supply will wither away due to our careless over-usage and our money eventually will too.
We’ve become entirely too comfortable with using water as a source of profit – putting our economy (and existence) at risk.
Make the choice: Save Water, Liver Longer
Making the choice to be irresponsible with water is making the choice to bring us closer to our demise. Our water practices are unsustainable, threatening our stability – causing the water cycle and life cycle to merge as one.
Water is an inalienable right to all. However, we continue to threaten the accessibility of drinking water without prioritizing those that lack it. Amongst the Water Crisis, we have allowed room for passive acceptance of our fate, when there is no room for non-action.
This performance gave me a fresh perspective on my water usage, and about how my actions no matter how small are contributing to a real state of crisis.
What did you do to observe National Water Day? How did you create change?
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