Students and non-students alike will crowd around the Katrina Memorial Fountain to celebrate the essence of water and champion its conservation through dance. On Saturday, April 12 at 3 p.m., the university will participate in the National Water Dance. Rehearsals have been underway since last Thursday, April 3 and will end this Thursday. According to the event’s official website, the National Water Dance originated at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida in March of 2011. They came up with the “Florida Waterways Dance Project” to bring awareness to the beauty and vulnerability of water. It unified art institutions all over the state with simultaneous performances by sites near water. The event was not exclusive to dancers, since musicians and visual artists also participated. Three years afterward, the event has spread nationwide, with about 75 universities participating in the event. The National Water Dance website states its mission is “to bring attention to environmental issues, specifically water, by creating community awareness through the arts. Every state, country, town in the US has a water issue whether it is drought, pollution, overuse etc.” They describe the overall purpose of the event is “to create a water ethic in the United States” by bringing awareness to conservation and pollution issues through the arts. They also wish to show students how performance art can be used for social change. According to Dance Coordinator Marie Fellom, student and Slidell native Samantha Barnes will be the representative of the university in the National Water Dance this year. Fellom believes the environmental issues brought up by this event hit closer to home than most Louisiana natives seem to realize. “Personally, I have been concerned about water conservation for years and have been inspired by One Drop and their remarkable water movement across the globe,” said Fellom. “As far as Louisiana goes, there is great concern about the well water and city drinking water, which has increased its chlorine amount.” Fellom sees the event as inspirational and beneficial to not only the environment, but also the community, both nationally and on a state-level. Fellom said, “The collective energy from the participants across the nation shouts a huge voice about water on our planet, which is one of the reasons we are involved with the event.”