“This whole place is like a monument to technology,” explains Ann Rothery, Program Coordinator for Edison Theatre at Washington University in St. Louis, as she gestures around the campus. “We wanted to make sure the arts were also heard.”
That may seem counter-intuitive when you’re talking about environmental sustainability. After all, technology is supposed to be the cure for our environmental woes: electric cars, alternative energy sources and green engineering are what people are counting on to make a difference.
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But dancing? Music? The arts?
“So much of what sustainability is and environmentalism is, is not going to be solved by technology alone. We’re going to have to convince people that it’s something we’re all going to have to do,” explains Rothery. “And my belief is that the arts are one of the very best ways of doing that.”
This led Rothery with Edison Theatre and Wash U’s Office of Sustainability to start collaborating on a month of events entitled “Environmentalism and the Arts.” Since Earth Day is Friday, April 22, the events were planned for April and kicked-off on the first with a “Tree Climbing as Performance Art” workshop.
David Marchant, senior lecturer in the Performing Arts Department, showed a small group of Wash U students how to artistically climb a tree. “[Artists] hope to maybe shift a person’s perception for a moment,” explains Marchant. “Cause them to look at things, maybe trees, in a different way than they do when they walk by them everyday.”
Since the Eastern Redbud trees, which the students climbed, have fragile bark, Marchant warned the students to be extra gentle. “Trees deserve a kind of awareness and respect,” he says. “My hope is that by having a more physical interaction with the trees the students can actually feel for themselves how strong and how fragile,” the tree is.
Marchant has been doing performance artwork in trees for the last six years and often performs with his wife, Holly. The idea grew from his passion for rock climbing.
So how does one dance in a tree? Slowly. “I made a decision that the artwork would be kind of slow, like the way Tai Chi is slow,” explained Marchant, “So that I really give myself the time to be fully aware of the decision I’m making.” The dance is as contemplative as it is expressive as Marchant turns and almost glides through the tree to form shapes as varied as the twisted branches.
Melissa Freilich, a sophomore in Arts & Sciences, and the intern who helped organize the Environmentalism and the Arts events, climbed a tree despite being afraid of heights, giving credence to the idea that firsthand experience might help make a connection. “It was really amazing,” Freilich says. “I never climbed a tree as a kid.”
Though the events for Environmentalism and the Arts are happening at Wash U, the goal is to reach out to the community as well. The next event is a free screening of the film Waste Land by Vik Muniz on April 14. The Academy Award-nominated documentary is about the catadores, or garbage scavengers, at the world’s largest garbage dump in Brazil. (There is more information about all of the events below.)
There will also be a colloquium on April 27th about environmentalism and the arts, and the local band Green Strum Project will perform on Friday April 22nd.
The goal is “to show people that there are different ways of approaching the idea of sustainability and it’s not just an issue of science,” explains Will Fischer a Fellow in the Office of Sustainability. “[Sustainability is] something you can express in a variety of mediums.”
Top: David Marchant (in tree) with some students from his workshop, from left to right: Nicole Lopez, Madeleine Daepp, and Melissa Freilich. Above: David Marchant dancing and Summer Chao in the background trying her hand at tree climbing performance art.
Upcoming Environmentalism & the Arts Events
For more information please contact Ann Rothery at 314-935-3389 or [email protected]. All events are free and open to the public.
Screening of Waste Land (April 14). Winner of the Golden Space Needle at the Seattle Film Festival and Audience Award’s from the Full Frame Film Festival, Maui Film Festival and Princeton Film Festival, just to name a few. This documentary about the catadores in Brazil has been hailed as “The Slumdog Millionaire of documentaries: an inspiring, deeply moving crowd pleaser.” (Huffington Post). In McDonnell Hall, room 162. Time: 7 p.m.
Create Change: Creative Activism Live Art (April 15). Part of Mideast Hip Hop Exchange Week, this event brings together student activist groups who create a living exhibition that also conveys a message about social change. It is like an “art gallery, installation, dance party and concert all rolled into one,” according to the event organizers. The Gargoyle. 8–11 p.m.
The Green Strum Project (April 22). Local band formed by Kelly Wells and Ryan Spearman, they recycle junk and trash into instruments. Their inspiration for the group was the idea behind the jug band, a group in which people play a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. Their motto is “do what you can with what you got.” Outside of the University’s Danforth Center. Time: Noon-2 p.m.
Envrionmentalism and the Arts Colloquium (April 27). Moderated by Jean Ponzi, host of KDHX 88.1’s Earthworms radio show, this event looks at arts and the environment from an academic angle. Participants include Hunter Vaughn, Lecturer in Film & Media Studies, and Ryan Spearman, Artistic Director of Green Strum Project. In Edison Theatre. Time: 4 p.m.
