Save the Ocean!

The theme of our final performance was ocean pollution. We chose this theme because we thought that we could create a clear message about the negative impact that pollution can have on the ocean and the animals that inhabit it. The group also realized that this theme would allow us to incorporate some of the water movements that we had been learning in class. I believe that our theme was successfully interrogated by our performance, and I also believe that our message about the negative impacts that arise from polluting our oceans came across quite clearly.

In my opinion, the two main reasons that our performance was able to convey our theme so clearly was due to the dance’s characters and choreography. In the dance we had two Orixas: Lemenja, who represented the water goddess and the protector of the ocean, and Omulu, who we chose to symbolize water pollution. Originally our antagonist was a mere ocean polluter, but the group decided to change this character to Omulu since he is the god of disease. We had the two Orixas introduce themselves by using moves that were unique to their characters, and once it was made clear who these two Orixas were, we had them battle one another. Omulu was the victor and Lemenja was banished, which allowed Omulu to begin to infect and pollute the ocean. This is where the various sea creatures that had been swimming around during the battle came into play. We had ocean creatures such as the shark, jellyfish, turtle, clown fish, beta fish, and crab. Each fish character used moves that represented swimming to help make it clear that they where sea creatures. These characters played a crucial role in helping us getting our theme across, since their deaths represented the destruction that can be brought on by ocean pollution. Omulu would give each fish a piece of trash, which represented pollution, and the fish would then die until only one loan shark remained. The shark didn’t die because of the pollution directly. Instead the shark died of starvation that resulted from the lack of live fish that remained in the ocean after the pollution had spread. Afterwards, Lemenja returned and defeated Omulu and was able to heal the damage that the pollution had caused. Once the balance was restored, the sea creatures then danced around her using some of her own dance moves to show their happiness of her return.

The music also helped our performance move along smoothly. Our group chose to use the song “She Came Along” by Kid Cudi. The song may not have contained any special meanings, but it seemed to fit our dance almost perfectly. We were able to use the song’s lyrics as cues to begin our dance moves. The very first time that the song says “she came along” was when we had the Orixas first enter the circle, and the part were rain was mentioned was when we had the fish begin to raise their hand up and down while wiggling their fingers to represent rain.

My job in this performance was to design the costumes and to decide what props would be best to use to help portray our theme. Due to a lack of money, I decided to make the costumes somewhat simple. I had each person wear a solid colored shirt that matched the creature that they were playing. The turtle wore a green shirt; the clown fish wore orange and so on. As a group we also decided to draw our creature onto our shirts to help the audience understand exactly what creature we were portraying. The only character that didn’t have a symbol on the shirt was the shark. Instead I had the shark wear grey and a small piece of red clothing to show that he was a predator. I think that these costumes really helped to show that the ocean is full of diverse and unique animals. The Orixas also wore similar shirts, but Omulu’s shirt contained symbols that represented death and sayings such pollution. I also had Lemenja wear a shirt and colorful bracelets to amplify her beauty. The only issue that I had with the costumes was with the Orixa’s costumes. If we had continued with the dance performance, I would have made their costumes a little more intricate and eye catching. The only props that I chose to use were the pieces of trash that Omulu gave the fish to represent the pollution that was infecting the ocean. The props were just simple objects such as a small bag, a soda can, and a jello cup, but I believe that they worked well in showing the spread of the pollution.

This dance performance helped me realize that I could in fact be a creative person. I was able to offer small ideas, such as Omulu grabbing Lemenja’s wrist while she was dancing to signify the beginning of their battle, that the group liked and added into the performance. This helped me to be more willing to speak up, which is something that I’ve always had trouble doing. I also realized how a group can feed off each other’s ideas and can then create something amazing. This performance also managed to help me overcome my fear of dancing in public. After the dance, I couldn't help but feel that if I could dance like a dying fish, then I shouldn’t have any problems going swing dancing!

By Clarissa Morales