Dance ambassador Ophelia Onyeukwu

What responsibility do we have?

Report on the dance piece ‘H2flow’

The dance piece H2flow (artistic direction: Bahar Meriç; Alica Paeske) is an international production created as part of the Move Impact Lab project by sPERANTO ResPeaceAbility gGmbH and Future Move e.V.

The project brings together young dancers and artists from Germany, Romania and Greece. Together, they dealt with global challenges in relation to water in a dance-like way.

The final performance at tak in Berlin was extremely impressive and left many impressions in me. Within the dance performance, three central questions were raised:

• What influence does water have on people and nature?

• What dangers, limits and obstacles arise with water?

• What responsibility do we have?

The opening image of the performance was washing with water on a blue-lit stage. The imaginary water came out of the buckets into the room and filled it. The buckets were passed through the audience rows and found themselves on stage before their way again led to the audience. The integration of the audience made the piece entertaining right from the start.

Another strong picture of the performance I remembered was the pollution of our seas. This global problem was represented by a cloth with holes. Among them were people. They moved; There were waves. And they throw garbage out of the holes of the cloth. This image directly critically addressed the human handling of the seas.

The image of the ancient goddess Aphrodite replaced this image. With long blonde wigs and body-hugging suits, the dancers took up the space as ancient figures. It acted as a strong contrast to the pollution of the seas. The scene was ended by tourists and other garbage.

Over the course of the performance, other impressive images that addressed the situation of the water were also portrayed by means other than just dance. Through singing, a goosebump-giving poem and once again the participation of the audience.

The performance ended with the initial picture, only modified. Everyone had water in their buckets. The surprising conclusion was to stand head-on in the full buckets. An impressive moment. This picture reminded me of the saying: “Just don’t put your head in the sand”. But it was water.

As a metaphor, I personally took it with me that we have to take care of the water, in whatever form, and maintain it without polluting it.