When Art Changes Perception.
Some artistic works entertain. Others tell stories. A few invite us to reconsider our place in the world. Become Ocean, presented by the Hessian State Ballet in Wiesbaden, belongs to the latter category. It is not merely an entertaining performance; it is an experience that encourages a shift in perception. Rather than offering a narrative, the choreography explores movement itself as a language through which we can reflect on interconnection, transformation, and belonging.
More Than a Performance About the Sea.
The title Become Ocean suggests more than a reference to the sea. At its heart, the work explores a simple yet profound insight: that life unfolds through relationships rather than isolated individuals. The ocean serves as a powerful metaphor for this reality. No wave exists independently; each movement arises from and contributes to a larger whole. In the same way, human beings are not separate from the ecological, social, and cultural systems that sustain them. Without offering explicit environmental messages or moral instruction, the ballet points toward a deeper ecological awareness: the recognition that we are participants in a living world, not observers standing outside it.
Become Ocean is performed by the Hessian State Ballet at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. The choreographers Margarita Lee and Maksim Vakulya (LEE\VAKULYA) transform an abstract idea into a collective artistic experience.
Image left: Dancers Benjamin Wilson, Sayaka Kado. Photography by Andreas Etter
Body and Mind – Rather than presenting an argument, it translates an idea into experience. Through choreography, music, and visual composition, patterns emerge, dissolve, and re-form, mirroring the continuous movement of natural systems. Individual dancers appear not as isolated protagonists but as parts of larger configurations whose meaning arises through relationship and interaction. The performance unfolds slowly, inviting attentive observation and allowing the audience not only to engage with the abstract concept of interconnectedness intellectually, but also to sense it through an aesthetic experience.
Image right: Dancers of the Hessian State Ballet. Photography by Andreas Etter
Why this matters for Anthrotopia?
Anthrotopia explores pathways toward a more conscious, connected, and regenerative future. Such transformation requires not only new technologies, or policies, but also new ways of sensing and seeing ourselves and our relationship with the living world. Works like Become Ocean contribute to this cultural dimension of change. They help cultivate a sensitivity and awareness to relationships, patterns, and interdependence. If a worldview of separation has contributed to the crises of our time, then the transition toward a more conscious, connected, and regenerative future may begin with a shift in perception.
Images: © Andreas Etter
