Environmental activism was brought to life with movement and song at Keene State.
“Fever Pitch: Climate Justice Performance” is a multimedia performance created and performed by Taína Asili. The performance featured dance, song, projected video and music performed by a band. On Wednesday, April 9, it was performed in full for the first time in the Mabel Brown Room.
“We had a tribute, I think more than just a show, to celebrate Earth Month,” said Dottie Morris, the associate vice president for institutional equity and diversity. “Really honoring what the earth has to offer us and also bring some awareness to some of us who are not aware of some of the things that we need to work on.”
Morris said the KSC Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion worked with the Eco-Reps club and some in the environmental studies department to host the performance.
“It was merging together many different causes,” said Morris. “But all for the love of the Earth.”
On the page for “Fever Pitch” on Asili’s website, the performance is described as “an invitation into the radical imagination, where new and creative ways of living harmoniously with each other and our Earth unfold.”
Asili herself described the show as “a multimedia show that incorporates dance and original songs and really cool projections, all addressing various issues related to climate justice.”
“Fever Pitch” consisted of multiple songs sung by Asili herself and the other dancers, Hettie Barnhill and Eliana Rowe. During each song, projected videos of nature and different environmental activists would play alongside an edited video live feed of the stage. There were also brief audio or video clips from different environmental activists played between each song.
While the choreography was done by Gregory Theodore Marsh, each of the songs and many of the clips used in the projections were Asili’s own.
“For the past ten years, I’ve written a large body of work around a lot of issues but climate, the environment, were issues that were always important to me and I’ve written a lot of material on it,” continued Asili. “I thought to myself that this would be a great way to thread them together.”
“Fever Pitch” incorporated many different themes alongside its main theme of environmental activism. There were mentions of spirituality, Native American and Black American culture and experiences and feeling hopeful about the world.
“Each rehearsal that we have has a lot of intention … we put a lot of real deep intention, not just myself but the whole team,” said Asili. “It’s not just my own creation, it’s collaborative. So I have my own spiritual practice, they have their own … but it’s really about us feeling connected to the work and to the intention.”
“I talked at the beginning of the show in my introduction about my son and a conversation that I had with him regarding climate,” continued Asili. “This was my show really honoring the commitment that I made to him that day to work doing everything I can do to create a better world for his generation.”
After the performance, Asili held an open discussion with the audience for comments, questions or feedback on the first full performance of “Fever Pitch.” Many in attendance expressed their enjoyment of the show.
“The talk about creating art as a form of activism … sharing a message that’s not just protesting on the city square,” said one attendee. “While that is important, this is a whole new way to look at things and it’s inspiring.”
“I really, really appreciated [the performance],” said Morris. “I think it was well done … everything was just amazing. I just hope that everyone who left here left with really good energy.”
Asili also spoke on how someone could get involved with climate justice.
“Get involved locally,” said Asili. “In New Hampshire more broadly, there’s a lot of organizing already … it’s connecting to an organization and seeing what is your niche.”
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