Dancing with the Tide: Movement and Marine Science in Harmony
Honors fellow Ayushi Gaur is passionate about incorporating the visual and performing arts into climate action and making educational education accessible to all.
Photos by Catie Cleveland
On any given day you might find College of Charleston senior Ayushi Gaur in two very different places: waist deep in Charleston’s marshes taking samples for her marine biology class, or in the dance studio choreographing her piece on whale fall. For Gaur, though, these are not two competing worlds. Rather, they intersect and are parallel ways of understanding and communicating the most pressing issues of our time.
“I couldn’t decide between the two,” says the Honors College fellow of her decision to double-major in dance and marine biology. “I was always interested in science and studying our Earth, but also loved the arts. When I found CofC’s marine biology program and realized I could double-major, it gave me space to really explore both.”
At the College of Charleston, Gaur – a recipient of the Jean and Tap Johnson Theatre and Dance Scholarship, Mosteller Family Scholarship and Swanson Family Annual Scholarship – has built a career that connects environmental science and creative movement. For example, in addition to co-founding and leading the College of Charleston hub of the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, she has researched and served as the media and outreach assistant for the H.O.P.E. (Hypothesizing Onehealth Pollution Effects) Lab and interned for the National Geographic Society’s storytelling programs.
She brings those experiences to her choreography, which often centers on climate and conservation themes, using performance to tell stories about ecological change.
One of her works focuses on whale fall, the process that occurs when a whale’s body sinks to the ocean floor and forms a new deep sea ecosystem. Through choreography, Gaur translates that process into movement, exploring how life and decay exist together. Other pieces have examined glacial melting and the sixth mass extinction, using dance to visualize how climate change reshapes natural systems.
That idea led Gaur to found ConservACTION, a project that grew out of her fellowship with the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots fellowship. Originally founded in 2020 as an online art gallery during the pandemic, ConservACTION began as a digital space where artists and scientists could share creative works inspired by environmental themes. Over time, Gaur expanded the project to include live performances and interactive workshops, blending movement, storytelling and education to inspire action.
“The goal has always been to make climate action education accessible,” Gaur says. “Art creates a space where people of all ages and backgrounds can connect with environmental issues in a personal way.”
ConservACTION now provides free educational resources and creative workshops that combine science and storytelling. Gaur says she is most proud of the project’s ability to reach people outside traditional academic settings. Her experiences with the Jane Goodall Institute and National Geographic Society helped shape her approach to using storytelling in science. She says both opportunities showed her the impact of youth programs and narrative communication in encouraging environmental action.
Her connection to the Jane Goodall Institute also holds deep personal meaning.
“When I was 17 and applying to the Youth Leadership Council for Roots & Shoots, I remember feeling like I was missing a key component of a leadership applicant because I didn’t really see myself as a leader,” she says. “I’m not super-confident, bold or outwardly enthusiastic. The leaders recognized in my classes seemed to have the opposite traits and personality.”
What drove her to apply anyway was thinking about the person she most admired, Jane Goodall, the founder of the very program she hoped to join.
“Jane wasn’t the loud, assertive person I imagined a leader to be,” Gaur says. “The animals I observe in my fieldwork, and Jane herself in the forests of Gombe, demonstrate other essential qualities like patience, focus and tranquility.”
When Goodall spoke to the Roots & Shoots members, she often called them “changemakers” rather than leaders, a term Gaur has fully embraced.
“Through Roots & Shoots, I learned that I could be an active part of a whole without needing to stand out,” she says. “It helped me redefine leadership as quiet, collaborative change making.”
“Working with youth is so fulfilling,” Gaur says. “It made me realize that education and communication are just as important as research when it comes to climate action.”
Balancing two demanding majors and a large-scale project has been challenging, but Gaur finds that her two fields inform each other more than they compete.
“When I’m in the salt marsh collecting samples, I’m orienting myself the same way I do in the studio,” she says. “Both involve movement, rhythm and awareness of space.”
After graduation, Gaur hopes to continue combining art and science, potentially through a master’s program in marine policy, while expanding ConservACTION and her choreographic work.
“Movement is an underrated tool for connection,” she says. “It grounds us – to people, to the Earth, to ourselves. Even if I take a more scientific route, dance will always be part of my advocacy.”
To other students trying to merge different passions, her advice is simple: Follow the intersection.
“As long as you see the connection, that’s all that matters,” Gaur says. “It doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s path.”
Corrina Castillo is a senior communication major from East Hampton, New York, with interests in writing and broadcast journalism and TV production. She is a Martin Scholar and a member of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honors Society and the Lambda Pi Eta National Communication Honor Society.
