This Ballerina Danced Across Antarctica to Promote Conservation

In the new film Antarctica: The First Dance, Madeleine Graham literally dances at the edge of the world. And while the footage of the Royal New Zealand Ballet dancer twirling and arabesque-ing her way across giant ice sheets is stunning, Graham braved the southernmost continent’s frigid cold for a more important cause: to raise awareness about Antarctica’s climate change crisis.

Choreographer and dancer extraordinaire Corey Baker is the mastermind behind this historic passion project as it’s the first dance film ever made in Antarctica. “It’s an immense privilege and mind-blowing experience to create and film a dance on Antarctica which will I hope bring people a little bit closer to understanding this unfathomable place, showing it off in a way that has never been done before,” Baker writes on the film’s website.

The complete film will be released on Earth Day, April 22nd—but you can catch a glimpse of the breathtaking footage in this preview.