The Butterfly Effect
February 25, 2025The recent ETH Global Lecture Series discussion is yet another powerful example of ETH’s dedication to highlighting scientists and artists together in dialogue, with compelling results. This time around, regular Global Lecture Series host and leader of the Strategic Foresight Hub in the Office of the President at ETH Zurich, Chris Luebkeman, is also part of the team that brought the subject of the panel about.
Luebkeman is a board member of the San Francisco-based Climate Music project, which brings scientist, composers and performers together to “enable the creation and staging of science-guided music and visual experiences to inspire people to engage actively on the issue of climate change”, as per its website.
A meeting last year between Luebkeman and Cathy Marston, Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer of the Ballett Zürich, resulted in the cooperation between ETH and the Junior Ballett Zürich for the “The Butterfly Effect”. This dance performance is made up of three pieces, and premiered at the Zurich Opera House in early February. It’s based on the effect noted by mathematician and meteorologist Edward N. Lorenz, in which a very small change in air conditions in one part of the world may cause a major disturbance elsewhere – a butterfly in Brazil causes a tornado in Texas.
In preparation for the performance, ETH Zurich Professor for Weather and Climate Risks, David N. Bresch, and ETH Zurich Professor for Land-Climate Dynamics, Sonia Seneviratne, met with Marston, her Junior Ballett Zurich company, as well as choreographers Ihsan Rustem and Lucas Valente at ETH’s Villa Hatt in June 2024. There he and his team gave the young dancers a meteorological look at their near future – in a presentation of statistics, models and forecasts for a very current topic: global heating.
But before the choreographers were able to create their pieces from Bresch’s and Seneviratne’s data, they had to recover from the bleakness of the facts – Valente was shocked by “information overload”; Rustem by “the vast magnitude of it all”; and Marston grappled with “imagining the scale of the problem and what could happen.” Then they and their junior dance company began the difficult job of translating statistics into movement, forming a truly meaningful performance out of all they had learned. “We need to get this information out urgently,” says Valente.
The stark reality is somewhat dark, agrees Rustem during the discussion, but it’s fascinating as a motivator for choreography. “How can we take something so distressing and so big, and find a way to deal with that? We can’t change the world in a 20-minute piece.”
The three choreographers each created one dance piece. Marston explained that when she choreographs, she very often starts with a piece of literature. “I wanted to give myself the chance in this instance to create something from a more open starting point, a more personal thing, so I was listening to all of the input and trying to filter it into myself [and figuring out] how would I bring this back out in a ballet.” Her piece, ‘A Question of Time’, reflects how she believes that time as a resource is relevant. One of the reasons we are in this predicament, she says, is because we often choose the quick option: “Taking the plane instead of the train, for example, choosing the thing that is not necessarily great for the environment or for our future, because it’s the quickest and I need to achieve all of these things.”
While Valente’s piece focuses on the data that “shows a very dark possibility of the future”, he stresses “we’re not there yet.” He turns to what would happen if we pass the point of no return. But there’s still a possibility of not crossing that ‘Point of No Return”, as he titled his piece. Valente shows us that there is hope left.
Rustem’s thinking is similar. For ‘What If?’, Rustem was inspired by the 13th century poet and scholar Rumi. “My composer and I found this text from Rumi. It says: ‘Sit, be still, and listen, because you are drunk and we’re at the edge of a cliff.’ I thought that this was quite fitting.” The quote does lend itself nicely to the current mess we are in. Rustem’s piece is divided into four parts: Tomorrow, a dystopian world; Yesterday, understanding what’s happening; Today, the growth of protest; Tomorrow Version 2, in which there is hope for the future.
One of the young dancers, Alyssa Pratt, joins the discussion. The physical styles of the pieces are all different, she says: fast and tough; still; textured, quick, sharp, with weight exchange. “There are times where we really let go and we’re dancing as big as we can, and I think that’s beautiful. It’s been a really fun challenge for me.”
“We had to put it together pretty fast. In my experience personally [it was physically and mentally] heavy, trying to explain ego and greed and time … it’s not like I’m explaining a princess story … this is real stuff.” But Pratt too sees hope in the future and feels it’s important that this point is made clear at the end of the pieces.
It’s all about communication, Bresch says. What sticks and motivates someone? The answer to that is how we engage with one another as humans. That is part of the solution. Bresch looks to find ways to link with those who can communicate more usefully to specific audiences – like these talented young dancers, who are better equipped to speak to supporters of the arts. And that’s very powerful.
Watch the full recording:
Find out more about our ETH Global Lecture Series here.
