By Jovannie Belot
Art and science are often viewed as opposites, and rarely do those opposites collide.
But the power of fluid movement and purposeful motion quickly changed that at the “Air-Earth-Fire-Water” performance on the Harbor Walk.
In each scene, the actors explain concepts such as gravity, inertia, the power of physics, quantum physics and the microscopic worlds the human eyes can’t see.
Now before the horrid flashbacks of high school chemistry begin, imagine learning all of these fields through poetry and motion.
With the tranquility of the music, the poetic structure of each sentence, and the smooth motion of every dance move, the audience didn’t just learn about science, but they also gained a deeper appreciation for it. They learned not just how things worked — but why.
“People come, they see something that they wouldn’t normally see,” said Chris Rutherford, one of the actors. “It’s a creative, dramatic way of looking at the sciences as not just something that affects our lives.”
The performance was written by Sheila Cowley and choreographed by Helen Hansen French and Paula Kramer. Rutherford and Eugenie Bondurant were the actors, while Hensen French, Alex Jones, Erin Cardinal and Brian Fidalgo II were the dancers. A.J. Vaughan was the viola player.
