Desire Motor
Decay Delay: Cycles of Formation is the most recent work of the series which premiered in NYC March 2023 at Center for Performance Research in shared evening with BAIRA. The movement and sound score of Cycles of Formation derive from research of tactile explorations of bio-based material transformations of raw material on their way to decay including grass, eggshells, burnt wood, pine needles, and other tree detritus. The work was created with dancers Emily Cattan, Rachel Sigrid Freeburg, and Bree Breeden, original music composed by Aaron Gabriel in collaboration with vocalists Zena Moses and Thomasina Petrus. Liquid charcoal drawings by Cristina De Miguel, lighting design by Liz Schweitzer.
Feel & touch
Through iterative performance research, Desire Motor aims to crack open the relationship between humans and nature, and examine it through the often dissonant lenses of scientific information, daily practices, and rituals of engagement. Enriching the process of our human bodies sensory experiences of the physical world to provide space to contemplate our role in it on a moment to moment basis and into the expanse of evolutionary time.
Listen
As we feel the breadth of the effects of the Anthropocene period, what are ways that we imagine a future where humans can continue to co-create with the natural world? Can we plasticize our imagination through sensory explorations of this physical world with our bodies? Can we imagine co-transformations both real and imagined?
Explore
Want to make a bio-based material at home? Not know where to start? Want to slow down, listen to your body in and with nature? Contact us, or come to a workshop!
Project History
Since 2016, Desire Motor research project has manifested 6 of 12 planned pieces. These pieces are Beast, One of You is Fake, Thirst, Thesis Things Do Not Bellow Long Together, Precipice, and Decay Delay: Cycles of Formation. These works have been developed and shared in performance with Gibney Dance, Center for Performance Research, La Mama, Movement Research, Pioneers Go East Collective, Jack, and through residencies with Vashon Island Residency, Hambidge Residency and Marble House Residency. Desire Motor is slated to be completed in 2028.
In 2022, the Vashon Island Residency and Hambidge Residency allowed time to explore making bio-materials with detritus and transformed raw materials into new forms—for instance, charcoal skins, decaying spines made from eggshells, a translucent pine needle sculpture, and other experiments.
Decay Delay: Cycles of Formation is the most recent work of the series which premiered in NYC March 2023 at Center for Performance Research in shared evening with BAIRA. The movement and sound score of Cycles of Formation derive from research of tactile explorations of bio-based material transformations of raw material on their way to decay including grass, eggshells, burnt wood, pine needles, and other tree detritus. The work was created with dancers Emily Cattan, Rachel Sigrid Freeburg, and Bree Breeden, original music composed by Aaron Gabriel in collaboration with vocalists Zena Moses and Thomasina Petrus. Liquid charcoal drawings by Cristina De Miguel, lighting design by Liz Schweitzer.
Please see bethgraczyk.com for further history on each piece.