Barjche 2011, a program preformed by the Orchesis 1 Modern Dance Company, chose a theme they believed all students could relate to — nature and sustainability.

“We had a lot of choreographers talk with our adviser, Cynthia, and we came to the conclusion that the majority of us would like to do something with the four elements, do something with recycling, just for the benefit of the world,” said Michelle Farley, President of Orchesis 1.

“There’s so many students that are wanting to be involved, it’s the cool thing to do to become more environmentally friendly, and it just makes a whole lot of sense for us to show ways of movement to indicate and to show the things that are happening around the world,” Farley said.

Barjche began in the 1940s, initiated by three apt women who were involved with Orchesis 1 — Barbara, Gene and Charlotte.

Barjche 2011 got the idea from their adviser, Cynthia Adams, who shares a passion for the environment.

“I approached the students when we were talking about it, and they also agreed that it would be something that they were interested in as well,” Adams said.

“Usually the adviser will think of things, then she’ll go the president and other officers, and we’ll discuss it; then we’ll have a show in October that shows little bits of what our show in February is going to be, and by October that’s when we finally decide what we’re going to do,” Farley said.

Through a variety of costumes, movement, music and text excerpts from newspapers and interviews, the company preformed a subtle but powerful message to audiences.

“A lot of the dances, you have to dig a little deeper than to just watch them from one side,” said Emily Bright, one of performers for Orchesis 1. “There’s a dance about oil spills, and there’s a dance about fire, and there’s water and rain and passion, and you really need to listen to the music and feel what they’re feeling. That’s how the dancers are doing their part to get that across.”

“There are a lot of different pieces that have newspaper and interviews sliced and then put on top of each other, and they’re all integrated, but they are talking about the environment and things that are going on, negative and positive,” Farley said.

Some of the text the group incorporated was from David Bauer, an activist in the early 1970s.

“It’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek feeling for how we need to be on this planet,” Adams said.

Choosing the environment as their theme, Orchesis 1 hopes to gain some recognition through a more recently relatable topic.

‘We are a company on school that isn’t very well-known, and we have a voice, but it’s still quite small, and every one of us is in this because we have a passion,” Farley said. “We want to share the things that we love and the things that are effecting our world and every human on this earth. So we try to find themes that will bring audiences in, things that they can understand, things that we can all relate to, but we get sheer enjoyment out of preforming and sharing how we feel with everyone else on campus.”

“We’re going through so much of it now that people can relate to sustainability and understand it,” Bright said. “I think our society is doing a better job of realizing how to be greener and we’re taking small baby steps to get greener; everyone can’t get solar panels on their houses like that, but we can do our part.”