EARTH SOUL
THE LIVING EARTH
ENCOURAGING WORLD PEACE
Artistic Director
Cheryl Flaharty
Dancer
Andrea Torres
Costume and Set Design
Cheryl Flaharty
Music Collage
John Signor
Lighting
Janine Myers
Production Assistant
Lynn Maire Sager
Stage Manager
Barett Hoover
Video Editing
Izumi Designs
Creative Team - Costumes & Sets
Cheryl Flaharty, Rebecca Horne, Dee Kursat, Carlyn Wolfe, Lindsey Shannon, Geneva Rivera, Peggy Hill, Rose Wolfe.
Supported by the Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai`i or grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Cades Foundation, and Jean Rolles.
ABOUT THE SHOW
‘The Living Earth’ was presented in 2009 as the fifth interactive production of IONA’s diverse Salon Series. Staged at Honolulu Hale’s Sky Gate Sculpture designed by Isamu Noguchi, 'The Living Earth' wove together dance and spirituality to present a theatrical dialogue of universal concerns. The interactive performance revolved around a Cosmic Circus featuring a Living Altar of sacred statues that brought the audience through the chakras as the evening progressed. Surrounding the Circus were nine Gates of Earth Awareness performance tents designed to honor and bring awareness to the current state of the planet and human consciousness. Prior to the show, audience members chose their individual “fate,” or order in which they watched the performance evolve as they visited each of the nine Gates.
THE DALAI LAMA ON WORLD PEACE
“I strongly believe that we must consciously develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. We must learn to work not just for our own individual self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind.
Many of the world´s problems and conflicts arise because we have lost sight of the basic humanity that binds us all together as a human family. We tend to forget that despite the diversity of race, religion, culture, language, ideology and so forth, people are equal in their basic desire for peace and happiness: we all want happiness and do not want suffering. However, as much as we praise diversity in theory, unfortunately often we fail to respect it in practice. In fact, our inability to embrace diversity becomes a major source of conflict among peoples.
In the context of our newly emerging global community all forms of violence, including war, are totally inappropriate means of settling disputes. Violence and war have always been part of human history, and in ancient times there were winners and losers. However, there would be no winners at all if another global conflict were to occur today.
It is not enough for governments to endorse the principle of non-violence without any appropriate action to support and promote it. If non-violence is to prevail, non-violent movements must be made effective and successful. Some consider the 20th century a century of war and bloodshed. I believe the challenge before us is to make the new century one of dialogue and non-violence.”
Dalai Lama
