“We are all bodies of water! What we do to water, we do to every body, including ourselves.”

— Astrida Neimanis

The mission of Global Water Dances - Geneva (GWD-GE) is to support dancers and other artists, as well as environmentalists and other community leaders, as they collaborate for the stewardship of Geneva’s water systems. GWD-GE offers performances, residencies, and workshops that engage and prepare audiences of all ages to appreciate and advocate for local bodies of water.

GWD-GE is led by Natasha Alhadeff-Jones and Deborah Chevalier. Learn more about the co-directors below. For excerpts from past GWD-GE events, click here.

GWD-GE springs from the international, biennial Global Water Dances (GWD) project, with a mission to connect and support a global community of choreographers and dancers to inspire action and international collaboration for water issues through the universal language of dance. GWD is committed to participatory arts and environmental activism!

Meet the Co-Directors

  • Co-Director

    Before training and teaching as a dance educator (2000-present), Natasha worked as an environmental educator (1992-2004), facilitating and managing wilderness and ecology programs for children in the Berkshires and the Adirondacks, as well as in New York City.

    Discovering in 2010 the international, biennial event of Global Water Dances (GWD) allowed her to engage in both her passions at the same time – community dance and environmental education – to lead programs that encourage sustainable intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental transformations.

    Bringing her experience as the Assistant Director of GWD-NY under Dr. Martha Eddy (2011 to 2017) and international Steering Committee Member of GWD (2019-present), Natasha founded GWD - Geneva (GWD-GE) in 2019.

     

    Co-directing with Deborah Chevalier since 2021 has allowed the program to expand and deepen in meaningful ways, as they partner with associations, non-governmental organizations, and schools.

    Natasha looks forward to continuing to co-lead GWD-GE and crystallizing partnerships with artists and environmentalists in and beyond the Geneva area.

  • Co-Directrice

    Deborah Chevalier débute la danse petite, se forme en ballet et en danse contemporaine à l’Académie de danse de Genève.

    En 2006, elle bifurque vers la danse afro-brésilienne, grâce à la rencontre avec la chorégraphe Rosangela Silvestre.

    Elle collabore dans différentes créations d’inspiration afro-contemporaine (Filibert Tologo, Luanda Mori, Tonia Schilling) et en milieu urbain (compagnie Zanko).

    Son intérêt se tourne alors vers l’improvisation et la composition instantanée. Elle se forme à l’Art du mouvement avec notamment Soto Hoffman, puis co-fonde avec Lila Lakehal « L’Art du présent » avec qui elle réalise entre autres des vidéo-danses.

    Elle découvre la Global Water Dances en 2019, grâce à la rencontre avec Natasha Alhadeff-Jones avec qui elle collabore comme co-directrice de GWD-GE depuis 2021 avec un focus particulier sur les questions de l’eau. 

We love dancing for water !

GWD-GE’s performance of the Global Dance was chosen to be the model for other groups around the world. The Global Dance is the simultaneous choreography done by all the performers worldwide to the same piece of music, connecting participants and audience globally. The music was composed especially for GWD by Chilean-born, Nicolás Soto Urrea, a musician and music therapist, residing in Colombia.