Water Dancers: Appreciating the Planet Through Movement

Earth Day was last week, a time to reflect on our relationship with our planet. Do we treat her with respect? Do we protect her?

As a member of Artists Rendering Tales Collective Inc (ARTCi), I was part of the team that delivered arts based, on line workshops to K-Grade 5 classes at Brockton Preparatory School in North Vancouver throughout April.

The school chose the mentor text, "We are Water Protectors" written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade. I worked with four Kindergarten and grade one classes to dance our appreciation for one of our greatest resources.

First, we created a poem about water. How did it make us feel? How did it move? Where could we find it? Why was it precious? Then, we learned about how words and stories can be expressed through our bodies. We combined choral and individual movement, expression, extension and levels and choreographed a dance celebrating water.

All I can say is these young Water Dancers let their ideas trickle, flow and splash; their love for the planet, their hope that we will all do our part to protect it, bursting through in every move.

Enjoy the poem they composed below and imagine how you too could join them as Water Dancers in their call to action at the end.

Water.

Water in the ocean.

Water in the pond.

Water in the bathtub.

Water in a waterfall.

Water flows.

Water runs.

Water trickles.

Water splashes.

Water is alive. Water has its own spirit.

Water makes us feel calm.