Collections from Biscayne National Park Site Visit
This trip was the farthest away but we were still able to have one entire day without travel to explore the site. I traveled with two of my dancers: Rosely Polanco and Emma Carver. We spent the morning on a four hour snorkeling excursion with a group of about 10 people where we were able to visit a mangrove estuary as well as a coral reef. Rosely had never swam in the ocean before, Emma had never been on a plane, and I had never snorkeled in the Atlantic so it was a really exciting few days of firsts for all of us. Since we were with a group and there wasn’t any extra space, we didn’t focus on any scores while we were on the boat however, I did ask them both to pay attention to their physical sensations while swimming and just explore on their own, similar to the Wandering that I asked of the other two groups on land. The guides were an incredible resource who answered all of our questions about the currents, different aquatic species, and their experience with the threats to the reef. Following our snorkeling experience, we went to a nearby beach to explore the rest of the scores. We talked a lot about how there were already signs of death in some areas of the reef and the fragility of an ecosystem that was so rich yet so vulnerable. We shared stories of what we saw and moments of peace and wonder while at the same time being able to witness the algae floating on the water from nutrient pollution and know that much of what we experienced will likely be gone in the next couple of decades either due to ocean acidification or rising sea levels.
List of scores to use in Biscayne National Park including some notes from the site visit 
These are objects that I chose for the Collecting and Discarding score used in Biscayne 
These are Emma’s reflections from our snorkeling experience and the Weather Sensing Score that we used in Biscayne. 
These are Emma’s reflections from the Shoreline Score and the Source Reflection score that we used in Biscayne. 
These are objects Emma chose for the Collecting and Discarding score used in Biscayne 
More of Emma’s reflections from our time at Biscayne. 
These are some of Rosely reflections from the Weather Sensing, Fish Migration, and Shoreline Score use in Biscayne. 
These are objects that Rosely chose for the Collecting and Discarding score used at Biscayne National Park 
These are continued reflections from the Shoreline Score with Rosely. 
These are Rosely’s reflections from the Source Reflection score and Future Site score used at Biscayne as well as some thoughts from after the site visit. 
These are Rosely’s reflections from our snorkeling experience.
This is one of my favorite videos of the purple fan coral that we witnessed while snorkeling. It provides such a beautiful visual of the driving impact of the currents.
This is video that I took from deep within the mangrove roots at the estuary we visited. You can see the diversity and incredible density of life that is supported by this ecosystem that is technically a wetland.
This is a view from the beach that we experienced several of our improvisational scores at that was also lined with mangroves. You can see the sea foam built up in the rocks that is caused by algal blooms.
Note: three times the amount of carbon released by our travel to these sites was offset using terrapass.com which supports projects like "reforestation, farm power, and landfill gas capture to remove carbon from the environment."
Kara Komarnitsky 