On May 29th, over 150 community members attended Solianna Halabisky’s senior community project—a dance showcase celebrating the beauty and singularity of the Salish Sea and island wildlife. Soli elected to donate all proceeds from the show, which featured Orcas Dance Collective, choreography by Tiffany Loney, and poetry by local high schoolers, to Friends of the San Juans! Thank you, Soli, for your incredibly creativity, and for thinking of Friends.
The project was born out of Soli’s desire to combine her two favorite things: art and science. Her approach is one that Friends knows well– Community Science and Education Director Jess Newley fuses the art of underwater videography with the science of marine food webs to inspire local youth to action through our Immersive Salish Sea Education program. Every year, Jess travels to each island bringing Friends’ signature virtual reality program to classrooms, including Orcas Island High School, where she first met Soli.
After that, Soli became President of her school’s EcoClub—one of three local student-led environmental groups supported by Jess and Friends. Soli and her family also attended several other Friends events over the years, from a trip to Yellow Island to a neighborhood beach walk to a community science training on invasive species. So clearly, Jess was thrilled when Soli pitched the idea of a live performance incorporating her underwater video footage and photos of the marine life of the Salish Sea!.
“To see my photography, brought to life with Soli’s vision of poetry and dance overlayed, was one of the most inspiring and powerful things I have witnessed. This show was science and art being brought together at their finest. I couldn’t have dreamt of it being as powerful as it was!”
— Jess Newley, Communitty Science and Education Director
If you missed the show, you can watch the whole event here (which we seriously recommend—it’s incredible!). Thank you so much to Soli, Tiffany, Orcas Dance Collective, Orcas Center Staff, and the fourteen youth leaders who made the show a huge success!
