A troop of artists has swapped the dancefloor for a Highland wind turbine in order to spotlight the “beauty” of renewables.
Nine dancers performed beneath, around and on top of 120 metre high wind turbines at Falck Renewables’ Millennium Wind Farm, near Inverness.
Award winning production company Corey Baker Dance has turned the show into a four-minute film that be debuted at COP26 tonight.
It is designed to highlight the role of Scotland’s wind energy sector in combatting climate change.
The film is soundtracked by ‘Leader of a New Regime’, a song lent especially to the film by New Zealand artist Lorde, taken from her new album Solar Power.
Mr Baker said: “We are very excited to be releasing this new work to help people engage with one of the themes of COP26: Renewable Energy. There’s a critical role for art to play in the climate change conversation and the moves we need to make – individually and collectively – to save our planet.
“There are a lot of preconceptions about wind turbines. I was keen to show their beauty, majesty and create a work emphasizing sense of harmony and compatibility between humanity, nature and renewable energy.
“In Leaders of a New Regime, we see the dancers almost as children of the wind turbines. I imagined a place where humans live compatibly with renewable energy and work together with the natural environment and technology to create a better world. The track from Lorde clicked perfectly with this theme.
“My team and I are indebted to the kind support of Falck Renewables and to the ground team at Millennium Windfarm who went above and beyond in helping us realise our creative vision.”
‘Leaders of a New Regime’ will be screened at COP26 at 6pm on November 4, and again at the Global Leadership Foundation/United Nations Environment Programme film festival on Wednesday 10.
The film was previewed at 10 Downing Street last week at a special reception celebrating the artworks inspired by COP26.
Excerpts from the performance have also been used for continuity adverts on BBC Scotland in the run-up to COP26.
Richard Dibley, managing director of Falck Renewables Wind, said: “We were delighted to help create a film which highlights the huge contribution of wind farms in Scotland to the fight against climate change.
“Many people comment that wind turbines have an almost sculptural beauty so it’s great to see them play a starring role, especially at an event as crucial as COP26. We believe that wind energy, both on and offshore, is key to delivering a sustainable future and helping to reach the increasingly urgent targets for reducing carbon emissions.”
In the run up to COP26, a video was shared of Scottish daredevil Danny MacAskill cycling across a turbine blade, a stunt which has never been attempted before.