Durban - Flotsam and Jetsam have officially joined the popular dolphin show at uShaka Marine World.
The new performance, starting this weekend, is designed around feedback from previous events, in an effort to bring home the conservation message effectively.
“We did a lot of research with various producers and directors and the general public,” said dolphin trainer Gabby Harris.
“We looked at critiques of the last show – the one that’s currently running – and looked at what we could do from a strategic point of view.”
Flotsam and Jetsam will appear on a screen and share the limelight with the dolphins. The characters were developed by scriptwriter, Charon Williams Ros.
“They are two really cool characters. They’re totally South African and come with the theme song Make the Circle Bigger,” Harris said.
The conservation message – that if you love dolphins you must conserve the oceans – would be accessible coming from them, she said.
For the first time, up to five of the marine mammals will take part in the performance. However, there’s never a guarantee of exactly how many will be available.
They also had to make sure the show was compatible with the dolphins.
“When working with animals, you are trying to put together their behaviour with theatre. We cannot engineer them to jump exactly on cue. It’s not practical.
“We have designed the show to be as consistent as possible, with the animals in mind, but also entertaining from a theatrical point of view.
“Things can go sideways when animals and kids are involved, so it has to be a fairly flexible product.”
Harris, whose academic background includes drama and psychology, said working with dolphins was an honour.
“They are powerful translators of the (conservation) message and people are clearly very emotional about them.”
She has worked with dolphins since 1990, using a positive-reinforcement approach, focusing on praising them for what they do correctly.
This was in contrast to the way people often trained their pets.
“Domestic animals are normally punished, when it’s not necessary,” she said.
Pretoria News