The classic children’s book and Academy Award-nominated film Paddle to the Sea is the focus of a new performance project that looks at our relationship to the bodies of water that connect our lives.

Paddle to the Sea tells the story of a Native Canadian boy who carves a wooden figure called Paddle-to-the-Sea and sets him on a journey through all five Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and finally to the Atlantic Ocean. The story underscores the geographic, economic, and cultural connections formed by our shared waterways, and asks us to consider the human impact on the waters that help us transport our goods, provide our electrical power, bathe ourselves, cook our food, and quench our thirst.

Providing a live “soundtrack”, Third Coast Percussion will perform works inspired by impressions of water and the natural world by Philip Glass, John Luther Adams, and Jacob Druckman, and compose music of its own to create a performance that flows seamlessly throughout the course of the film. Video art that interacts with this new score will be created and interspersed throughout Paddle to the Sea.

Third Coast Percussion’s residency lays much of the groundwork for their Paddle to the Sea project, as they prepare for its world premiere in the fall of 2017 at the Cleveland Museum of Art.