"What's the thing about the beach...?"

This questions came up in class one day in relation to music in relation to multi-sensorial art. The more senses the better. Personally, that's why I think theatre is the shit, because it can invoke sight, sound, touch (especially in the Ed. Theatre world, our base is contact... and the variation between touch and space), sometimes smell (in the case of...lets say Chekhov's "The Seagull," even though that's a comment on the extremes and failures of "experimental" form in theatre.) Anyway, there is constant involvement in theatre both by the performers and the audience. But I digress. The ocean. Being from San Diego, I have been constantly near the ocean all of my life and it is a HUGE part of my life world and experiences. I have spent many, many hours, here:



Sitting and watching the waves crash and the sun set. And it is an incredible multi-sensorial experience. There is something unitentifiable about the ocean that has attracted humans in inexplicable ways. We are drawn to it. To its beauty, to its vastness, to is smell, feel, taste, its memory. To its "permanence versus change." The ocean was one of the first entities the Earth had to offer. It is ALWAYS there, and its not going anywhere. It is permanent. YET at the same time it is constantly changing. Waves are crashing and the Ebb and Flow of the ocean's tide shows itself in many other aspects in art. It is a basis for music and art, the ebb and flow of character objective achievement and plot, the ebb and flow of uncertainty and melody and dissonance. Humans are mostly water. We are connected. We are one. The ocean IS zen.

Ibsen was obsessed with human's connection to the sea as well. Take "Lady From the Sea." Here are some of Ibsen's first notes:

"The lure of the sea. Longing for the sea. People`s affinity to the sea. Tied to the sea. Dependent on the sea. Compulsion to return to it. A species of fish forming a prototype in the development of species. Are there still rudiments of this in the human mind? In the mind of some individuals?
The images of the turmoil of life in the sea and of «what is eternally lost».
The sea has power over moods, has its own willpower. The sea can hypnotize. Nature can in general. The great secret is the dependency of the human will on «what is without willpower».
She has come from the sea, where her father`s parsonage lay. Grew up out there - by the free, open sea. Became secretly betrothed to the irresponsible young mate - an expelled sea-cadet - , who spent the winter ashore in an outlying harbour on account of a shipwreck. Had to break off the relationship in accordance with her father`s wishes. "

Ellida's obsession with the sea is relatable and beautiful. AND MADE GREAT ART.