Dance Film “@tension” Premieres As COP30 Deliberations Heat Up, Bringing Canada's Wildfire Realities To The Global Stage

Belém. Brazil, 19 November 2025:- In a haunting and visually striking short film released online today, three dancers interpret the devastating human and environmental impacts of climate change.  Produced by Held Moon Co., “@tension [attention]” takes viewers on an emotional relieving of an evacuation due to the extreme 2023 wildfire in Yellowknife, in Canada’s subarctic.

The film's release is supported by POWER–Planetary Health Organizations for Wellbeing, Equity, and Regeneration, the Yellowknife Dance Collective, and the Global Climate and Health Alliance. 

“This film is an artist-driven response to the impacts of the climate crisis, and is an example of using artistic practices to process the emotions and questions that accompany our increasing climate-related emotions”, said Tomiko Robson, performer and co-choreographer. The film premieres in the context of the COP30 climate negotiations, offering delegates and global audiences a visceral reminder of the human and ecological impacts of a changing climate.

Created and filmed by Fia Grogono and Tommy Jorge on subarctic Chief Drygeese Territory in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories - land which is warming at triple the global rate - “@tension [Attention]”, follows three dancers as they embody the events and anxieties associated with their experience the 2023 wildfires that prompted the evacuation of 70% of the population of the territory. The climate events also generated smoke that exposed 354 million people around the world to increased particulate air pollution, and contributed to over 82,000 premature deaths globally (Zhang et al., 2025, Nature). The dancers move through phases of anxiety, freeze response, grief, healing, and community care as they explore the dislocation and reconnection to home, land and each other. Through contemporary dance, the film translates the escalating wildfire crisis into an intimate experience that defies borders and calls us into care and community on both local and global levels.

Quotes From the Creative Team
“@tension [Attention] evolved from the need to process the lived experience of facing northern wildfires and evacuations. It's a film to support our community to feel and heal and do better next time. Dance and breath are languages people can feel in their bodies, so using these mediums gives us a way to convey both the urgency and the tenderness of these experiences in the face of the ever-growing climate crisis.”
— Fia Grogono, Director, Producer, Choreographer and Performer

“As a choreographer, I wanted to explore the process of being displaced, of being moved instead of moving. This was our experience during the 2023 evacuation. The dislocation and the recovery, plus my ongoing concern about how many times humans and the Land can recover, drove my movement investigation. This film is an invitation to witness and question these cycles, to recognize resilience but also address our  vulnerability.”
— Tomiko Robson, Producer, Choreographer and Performer

“In 2023, the wildfires forced the evacuation of our hundred-bed hospital, home to the only CT scanner in the entire Canadian central Arctic — and also sent smoke around the world. It may feel far from the Amazon, but the truth is unmistakable: we are all connected through this complex, adaptive system we call Mother Earth. Our health depends on her health. Like in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, in order to bring her back to stability, we need to push hard, push fast, and not stop.”
— Dr. Courtney Howard, Performer, Yellowknife emergency physician, Chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Founder of POWER, onsite at COP30. 

“The Global Climate and Health Alliance is proud to support  @tension - passionate artworks such as this can transmit both the urgency and hope demanded to achieve success at COP30 and beyond, and inspire us all to protect the people and environments they love.”
—Dr. Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance

Film Credits
A Film by: Held Moon Co
Director: Fia Grogono
Performers: Fia Grogono, Courtney Howard, Tomiko Robson
Choreography: Fia Grogono and Tomiko Robson with contributions from Courtney Howard and Rilee Lloyd
Director of Photography: Tommy Jorge
Editor: Tommy Jorge
Assistant Editor: Fia Grogono
Sound Production: Benjamin Lavigne
Assistant Sound: Tommy Jorge and Fia Grogono
Special Effects & Colour Grading: Kim Bogdan Penno
Producers: Fia Grogono, Tommy Jorge, and Tomiko Robson
Filming Location: Chief Drygeese Territory, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

About @tension
@tension is a short, multi-media dance film that explores and responds to the experience of Yellowknife’s evacuation due to the extreme 2023 Canadian wildfires. The film follows three dancers as they embody the experience and anxieties associated with their experience of the wildfires that prompted the evacuation of 70% of the population of the territory. Exploring themes of hyper-focus, disassociation, dislocation, panic, grief, and community care, the dancers move through and interact with the damaged, but recovering Land. 

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