"We grow like flowers, and bear desire, The odor of human flowers" Richard Henry Stoddard
The color, shape and perfume of a flower, the sweetness of a fruit reflect a plant’s desire for propagation by drawing in other life forms that will spread its seeds. The Flowering of Desire examines desire from the plant’s point of view as well as the human desires that connect us to plants. Inspired initially by the book "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan I began to research the fascinating and complex world of plant biology. Humans have such an intertwined relationship with plants, both affecting and being affected by them, and desire seems a perfect gateway to explore this relationship. Man and plant share the desire for propagation or procreation, and they fulfill this desire in similar ways. A flower lures insects to it using whatever means it can, even by appearing to be something that it isn't, such as another insect. Similarly, humans use a variety of methods to attract mates including attire or lack of, perfume and certain types of behavior. Working improvisationally with the dancers we began to explore topics such as nourishment, territorial possession, the search for light and allurement. We presented our first performance of the work in November, 2011 in an urban park, using the site of the park as further inspiration for the dance. Composer Ken Christianson collaborated with us and performed live with other musicians using a mix of prerecorded and live music. The creative process was extremely rewarding and the performance was very successful. We're gearing up for our next incarnation of The Flowering of Desire on March 3, 2012. More on our current process in the next blog post.
