The ledge is occupied by different figures bathed in their own wash of shadowy light. They seem to embody the element being depicted, in dance, on the other side. The ballet continually returns to an interplay between the dancers and the figure behind the scrim. The first section, Earth , starts with the dancers, wearing dark, ruddy-colored costumes, clumped in a mass on the floor. A figure with body paint rises in the light above the squirming bodies.
Smoke fills the stage.
The bodies begin to move on and out from the floor, squatting, arms shifting. Sensual upper body movements accompany kicks, swings and jumps. Water begins with a transfixing sequence of dancers, their bodies in white paint, moving forward in waves, stepping through and over each other. They dance with steaming cauldrons placed in circular patterns on the stage. There is a cleansing ritual towards the end.