BEE DANCING

On Saturday evening, March 10, I had the pleasure of attending Flex Studio’s “Flex-tan-i-cal” dance concert with my 5-year-old son.

The proceeds from the performance will go towards a campaign against commonly used insecticides that are toxic to bees. Bees are important to humans because they pollinate crops that are responsible for 90 percent of the world’s nutritional needs.

Much of the performance was modern/contemporary dance, which lent itself nicely to the theme of the night: the admiration and wonder of plants. In this type of dance, dancers spend time on the floor, crawling, reaching out, arching — like seeds and roots feeling their way in the earth.

Then, like shoots reaching towards the sky, rising higher, the dancer pushes up, forward, side, back and side again, leaping, turning, cascading back to the earth, cycling.

The evening fluctuated between solo dances and group performances. In the solo dance, the dancer portrayed a particular species of plant, giving center stage to its beauty and uniqueness.

Then the dancers would come together as a community, flowing over and around one another, highlighting the significance and elegance of competition, cooperation and continual adjustments amongst species.

My 5-year-old was mesmerized, and it was clear to us that bees need to be saved not only for the benefit of humans but for the continuation and proliferation of these ever-flowing, diverse and graceful dancers on our colorful planet.

Thank you, Flex Studios, for the dazzling reminder that we are all part of the dance.

Amy Hughes

Eugene