ETH Global Lecture Series: The Butterfly Effect
10 Feb 2025 - The "Butterfly Effect" highlights how small actions can create global impacts, a concept shared by climate science and choreography. In this ETH Global Lecture, choreographers from the Ballet Zurich, alongside ETH Zurich climate scientists, discuss their collaboration with Ballet Zurich’s Junior Ballett, showcasing how dance reflects our world's interconnectedness and the challenges of climate change.
The "Butterfly Effect" illustrates how small changes can create far-reaching impacts, a concept at the heart of both climate science and choreography. This ETH Global Lecture brings together choreographers from the Ballet Zurich with climate scientists from ETH Zurich to discuss their unique collaboration with Ballet Zurich’s Junior Ballett.
Together, they explore the creation of a new ballet inspired by the interconnectedness of natural systems and the challenges of climate change. This interdisciplinary dialogue offers a fascinating look at how subtle movements, whether in nature or art, can ripple outward to produce profound effects, showcasing the powerful synergy between science and the performing arts.
More information about the Ballet can be found external page here.
The Butterfly Effect: Where Science Meets Ballet
Monday, 10 February 2025
17.00 - 18.00 CET
HG F30 Audimax, door opens at 16.30
This lecture is in English. A reception will take place after the lecture
Registration is required external page here
Speakers
- external page Cathy Marston, Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer of the Ballett Zürich
- David N. Bresch, Professor for Weather and Climate Risks at ETH Zurich
- Chris Luebkeman, leader of the Strategic Foresight Hub in the Office of the President at ETH Zurich (moderation)
Cathy Marston
Internationally renowned choreographer Cathy Marston holds both British and Swiss citizenship. She is the Ballett Zürich’s new director since August 2023. She received her dance training in Cambridge and at The Royal Ballet School in London. Between 1994 and 1999 she danced with the Ballett Zürich, the Lucerne Theatre Ballet and the Konzert Theater Bern. From 2002 to 2006 she was Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House in London and from 2007 to 2013 Ballet Director at the Konzert Theater Bern. Cathy Marston has been a highly sought-after freelance choreographer for many years, and she has appeared with numerous renowned international companies and institutions. She has created works for The Royal Ballet, Danish Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Ballet Black, Cuban National Ballet, Opera Australia and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. In recent years she has worked increasingly in the United States, including works for San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet Chicago. In her choreographic works, she brings great literary texts to life in dance, engaging with important historical figures in unusual and original ways. She has enjoyed great success with her ballet adaptations of Mrs Robinson (based on Charles Webb’s novel The Graduate), Snowblind (based on Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome), Charlotte Bront?’s Jane Eyre and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Unusual perspectives also inform her biographically inspired works The Cellist, Victoria and Hexenhatz. Cathy Marston has received numerous awards for her choreographic work, including a South Bank Sky Arts Award and the UK National Dance Award. In 2020, the International Institute for Dance and Theatre awarded her their prize for Excellence in International Dance.
David N. Bresch
David N. Bresch is professor for Weather and Climate Risks at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zürichand external page MeteoSwiss, Switzerland. His research focuses on the impacts of weather and climate on socio-economic systems. Combining numerical (open-source) modelling of weather and climate risks with the engagement of decision makers and end-users, his research aims to explore ways to strengthen their resilience and create a shared understanding of their weather and climate susceptibility. Such an integrated view along the chain of impacts also opens new perspectives and approaches to the treatment of uncertainty in decision-making.
Chris Luebkeman
Chris Luebkeman is Head of the Strategic Foresight Hub in the Office of the President at ETH Zurich. In all of his collaborations, he intertwines practical optimism, insatiable curiosity, and a profound commitment to the planet. Chris' career to date has spanned various professions and locations. His path led him to Vanderbilt, Cornell and ETH Zurich, among others. Prior to his role as Head of Foresight at ETH Zurich, he worked at the global engineering consultancy Arup in London, where he led the research and development group and later founded the foresight, innovation and incubation teams.