the poem that inspired ELEMENTS

Amanda Labonté lives and writes in St. John’s, NL. She is the author of Call of the Sea (2015), Return to the Sea (Spring 2018) and the Supernatural Causes series (April – October 2017). She is the editor/producer of After Books, Inc. In addition to writing, Amanda holds undergraduate degrees from Memorial University in Philosophy and Political Science and a Masters in Business Administration. Over the past ten years she has helped start and run an educational and tutoring business for students from pre-K to post-secondary.

“After being so inspired by her writing for Oceanic (2023), we knew that Amanda had to be part of the creative process for Elements (2025). We had a general idea of the theme we wanted to explore for this show, but we were floored by how Amanda took our abstract web of words connected by arrows and poor drawings, and wrote this beautiful story that ended up being the foundation for the theme of our show. The connection to the sea is self evident for us at this point (from our geographic location on this island in the Atlantic Ocean, to our past productions Aqueous and Oceanic), but to see “water, the bard” … well, our hearts soared – which is how we knew we had to use “Waterways” by Ludovico Einaudi as a recurring theme in the music (which you’ll hear in 3 different variations throughout the show).  I’m so looking forward to seeing the show in its final form, and it wouldn’t have been possible without this collaboration with Amanda.”

Vanessa Matthews
Artistic Director, Seraka Dance Company

Variation

by Amanda Labonté (2025)

It begins in the end
In the remnants
The ashes, the dust
The parched silence

Creation comes as a pilgrim
Finding salvation in existence
Pulling trace elements
Into present tenses

Water, a bard
With streams of melody
Pulling a friendly refrain
From the depths

Air, a storyteller
Carries whispers on the wind
Speaking words into being
Beings into legions

Earth, a weaver
Twisting tapestries of brown and green
Into a pleasing reflection
For all to admire

And fire, the dancing flame
The promise of Prometheus
The gift of warmth
Paid with endearing rebirth

Fusing in the murky ether
A muddle of forced notions
Until, with a stroke of clarity
Creation is served

With harmonizing chords
And stirring phrases
A moving canvas
And a flickering step

Ringing with clarity,
A beautiful synchronicity
Manifesting a rare gem
With ever shifting facets

Until an adversary arrives
Invited by Complacency
Creation grows slack
Prideful and weak

Ears close to the missed chords
The cacophony of nonsense
The breaking dams
Essence lost in vapor

The winds of idle gossip
Blow with unbridled restraint
The forces amass
Taking up arms

A decaying canvas
Covered in muddy footsteps
Cleansed of meaning
An inheritance of falsehood

A faithless partner
Stumbling to blazing ruin
Devouring the faithful
Across a smoking landscape

Enter the tidal surge,
The force of the gale,
The gaping fault,
The infernal destruction

Back to the remnants
The ashes, the dust
The parched silence
It ends in the beginning

ELEMENTS

An evening of contemporary bellydance
by Seraka Dance Company

8:00 pm – Saturday 15 November 2025
LSPU Hall, 3 Victoria Street, St. John’s NL

For tickets, Call the Hall (709-753-4527) or visit LSPUHall.ca

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