MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet's 'Glacier' Is First Ballet To Be Presented At International Climate Conference

MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet (MOVEIUS), dedicated to bringing socially-relevant stories to life, will perform GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit. GLACIER creates an onstage arctic environment where the threat of polar icecap collapse is set to movement by dancers who ripple, crack and plunge amidst live video projections by filmmaker Robin Bell, renowned for his witty guerilla #resist projections on DC's Trump Hotel. GLACIER will take place September 13-15 at San Francisco's Brava Theater Center at 8:00 p.m.

GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet broke new ground in 2015 as the first ballet about climate change, choreographed by a climate policy expert. Diana Movius-who trained under Charlotte Ballet's Patricia McBride, and who has conducted climate policy work for the World Bank, the United Nations, the Center for Clean Air Policy, and other organizations-is bringing her ballet and contemporary-ballet company, MOVEIUS, to the 2018 Summit as an affiliate event. Glacier will once-again break new ground as the first ballet ever presented as part of an international climate conference.

"I wanted to show what climate change feels like" says director Diana Movius. "If the polar ice caps could talk, what would they say?" She believes that "live performance is a powerful medium for confronting some of the most challenging issues of our time. I want the audience to leave with a visceral understanding of why many care deeply about this issue and why more action is needed to protect our environment."

The 2018 Global Climate Action Summit will bring people together from around the world to showcase climate action and inspire deeper commitments from national governments, in support of the Paris Agreement. As the international community works towards the goal of preventing the climate from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius, the point of potentially catastrophic consequences, Movius plans to reach both the policy expert and the everyday person by connecting audiences with the emotions that stem from the scientific facts.

The movement in Glacier is inspired by different types of ice-such as calving glaciers, drifting sea ice, and cracking ice sheets-and the insight gained from research on how these bodies move in response to a warming world. Each section of the ballet represents a different type of ice or Arctic phenomenon-with arctic creatures, such as a polar bear, taking the stage. The video projections by artist Robin Bell create a backdrop where live footage of the dancers can be seen juxtaposed against fixed footage of the artic-creating an immersive audience experience.

GLACIER was co-commissioned in 2015 by the City of Takoma Park (MD) and Atlas Performing Arts Center (DC). GLACIER (at the Global Climate Action Summit) is the result of direct outreach from the Governor's Office and subsequent vetting by the California Arts Agency.

Glacier will run Thursday, September 13th through Saturday, September 15th at 8:00 p.m. at The Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco, CA. Brava is accessible through BART (24th street station). Bus lines 27 Bryant, 12 Folsom, 67 Bernal, and 9 San Bruno all pass within 1-2 blocks of the theater; the 48 Quintara runs in front. The entrance is near the corner of York Street, between Potrero and Bryant Streets.

Founded in 2010 by dancer and climate policy expert Diana Movius, MOVEIUS creates diverse ballet-based choreography working with local D.C. area professional ballet dancers and choreographers. MOVEIUS incorporates innovative multimedia elements and draws from founder Movius' classical ballet background to tell modern-day and socially relevant stories. MOVEIUS has received critical acclaim for its performances throughout the DC Metro area, appearing at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Dance Place, Atlas Performing Arts Center, and the Woolly Mammoth. MOVEIUS won a 2018 local dance commissioning project from the Kennedy Center.

Diana Movius is a choreographer, dancer and climate policy expert with a passion for both the environment and dance. As a dancer, Movius trained with Charlotte Ballet's Patricia McBride and later danced principal roles in Balanchine's Who Cares?, The Four Temperaments, and Stars and Stripes at Stanford University. As a climate policy expert Movius has developed policy recommendations, authored papers on deforestation and climate change, and conducted climate finance regional trainings while working at organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Center for Clean Air Policy. She is the founder of DC-based MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet, a critically acclaimed dance company in residence at Dance Loft on 14-a rehearsal and performance space founded by Movius to address the need for affordable and accessible rehearsal and performance space for dancers and choreographers in the D.C. Metro area.