Grant to boost performances of 'Fire Speaks the Land' show

 A Plum Creek Foundation grant will help bring performances of “Fire Speaks the Land,” an innovative educational presentation by the University of Montana’s CoMotion Dance Project, to more people this year.

 The $2,000 grant will be used to help fund summer performances of “Fire Speaks the Land” in the Flathead Valley, Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

Combining the performing arts with environmental education and stewardship, the interactive dance performance teaches fire ecology and forest regeneration.

“’Fire Speaks the Land’ is a visually stunning, nationally celebrated approach to fire education,” says Karen Kauffman, director of the CoMotion Dance Project. “Our 50-minute performance uses choreography, original music and narration to teach the fire triangle — convection, conduction and radiation — and how Native Americans used fire.”

“Fire Speaks the Land” is a collaborative effort.

Jack Gladstone, an award-winning troubadour from Montana’s Blackfeet Indian nation, narrates the presentation, which was written by children’s science author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent of Missoula, author of several books on Yellowstone wildfires.

The original sound score was developed by Montana musicians.

For more information, visit http://comotiondanceproject.com.