Reflection

When I first read the prompt about connections to nature, the first thing that I thought to do was to show how being outside made me dance free and without inhibition. However, when I got outside, I was uncomfortable. I felt the sun burning my back and the dirt tickling my feet. When I watched the clips of me dancing out in that big grass field, I didn’t really see a happy girl frolicking around. That got me thinking, well, what is my connection to nature? And the answer is that my connection to nature is limited because I don’t need to go outside. I am fully entertained within the four walls of my bedroom. I don’t need to leave the house to talk to my friends. Even though I act on my passion for the environment through lobbying and writing articles, I don’t feel a strong connection to the outdoors because I don’t spend as much time outside as I should. My environmental work is mostly done online. I’m so glad that I participated in this competition because it showed me this. I want to be the kind of person that lobbies for environmental legislation or makes scientific discoveries to mitigate climate change, but also I want to be the kind of person that walks into nature and feels at home in it. So this piece is really a promise to myself that I will spend more time enjoying nature, off of my devices. I choreographed it, taking influences from Horton, Graham, ballet, and a little bit of flamenco. I end it by running down the stairs out of my dance studio, fulfilling my promise. I hope that others inside and out of my age group can relate to the effects of technology on their personal relationship to nature.