‘Thaw’: Artists seen dancing on suspended iceberg to deliver important climate change message [WATCH]
As part of the 2022 Sydney Festival, artists danced on a massive ice chunk that was suspended from the Sydney Harbour
Artists dance on iceberg to deliver climate change message | Photo Credit: YouTube
Key Highlights
- A massive 2.7-tonne was suspended over the Sydney Harbour and artists performed on it
- The stunt aimed to start a conversation on melting glaciers around the world
- Three aerialists performed on the huge ice chunk for three days
The conversation on climate change and the effects of global warming has dominated public discourse for years now. But opinions about it are often divided as several theories float on the internet almost on a daily basis.
As the impact of climate change affects almost everyone on the planet, people from different walks of life and across disciplines try to deliver important messages about the ill effects of global warming.
Like science, performing arts too does its part in educating people about climate change and its impacts on Earth's weather patterns. Just that their way of communication is different and very thought-provoking.
That's exactly what artists from a theatre company did at the 2022 Sydney Festival.
Firstly, a massive 2.7-tonne iceberg was suspended over Sydney Harbour, just metres away from the foot of the Opera House.
This was part of a climate change performance piece called "Thaw".
The ice chunk, made to represent the melting icebergs due to global warming, was hung over the Sydney Harbour and three aerialists danced atop it for ten hours a day for three days, according to reports.
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"They're out in the Sydney summer sun on a freezing block of ice, so it takes a lot of time to train them in that not only from an aerial safety perspective but also an impact on the body perspective," artistic director Joshua Thomson told 9News.
The theatrical dance that highlights the impending danger of melting icebergs was performed by Vicki Van Hout, Jenni Large and Isabel Estrella.
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The chunk of ice will eventually melt as hot days of the Aussie summer stretch on. The objective of the stunt was to start a conversation about melting glaciers around the world.
Clips and photos of the performance started doing the rounds on social media on 14 January.
Many appreciated the performance by saying it was an innovative way of sounding an alarm about climate change. However, some criticised the stunt by saying it was dangerous and didn't deliver any message.