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Design After Dark: Global Water Dances
August 25th, 2021 |
Next up in Historic Bethlehem’s Design After Dark lineup is the Global Water Dances film screening. This event will feature the showing of Global Water Dances’ site specific video, which focuses on their activism towards water quality around the globe. The screening will be followed by a conversation about water issues in the Lehigh Valley.
Global Water Dances is an international organization that strives to raise awareness around international water issues and inspire action through the language of dance. The first event held by Global Water Dances occurred in June of 2011 where individuals around the world joined in a 24 hour movement in 57 locations. Since then, the organization has grown dramatically with over 180 different locations worldwide. In previous years, they have held a Global Water Dances event which encompassed a single day. However, due to their growth, they extended their event into an entire week during June.
Global Water Dances has made large impacts on communities around the world that have, and still are, suffering from threatened water conditions. In recent years, they have engaged communities of Takoradi, Ghana and Flint, Michigan. Teenagers in Flint, Michigan reached out to Global Water Dances to find a way that they could express the emotions they felt regarding their water crisis back in 2017. In that same year, people in Takoradi, Ghana joined in with Global Water Dances to raise awareness for the unsustainable mining practices, called galamsey, which threatened their water sources.
Behind the Bethlehem Water Dances event are two talented artists. Adam Ercolani is based in the Lehigh Valley and just received his MFA from Moravian University. Ercolani’s work draws attention to the individual’s relationship to the self as a result of the environment they find themselves in, and stations this work clearly in the context of the community in which it’s presented.
When it comes to artistic creation Ercolani employs a multi-disciplinary approach which encompasses many genres and mediums. Ultimately, the focus of his artistic creation is on the empowerment of marginalized communities through creative exploration.
Sean Patrick Cassidy, currently based in the Lehigh Valley, applies a therapeutic approach to his artistic practice. Cassidy has over ten years of experience using performance to help build healthy communities. He is committed to elevating the voices of people who are often left out of important conversations that are shaping cities for an equitable world for all.
Touchstone Theatre hosted the Global Water Dances in Bethlehem in June and has partnered on the screening event. Founded in the mid-1970s, Touchstone Theatre brings together college students, teachers, and artists from diverse backgrounds. Above all, Touchstone Theatre has always strived to join communities with the “language of gesture and image rather than words.” Their main theatre is located on the South Side of Bethlehem, situated in a renovated 19th century firehouse.
The Global Water Dances film screening will take place on August 26 at the Luckenbach Mill. Doors for the event will open at 6:30 PM, and refreshments will be provided during the event. If you would like to register for the event, please register online while spots are still available. We hope we’ll see you for this night of thought provoking and inclusive environmentalism.
Article by Gabe Chlebove, Museum Writing Intern for Summer 2021.
