How to Preserve an Orange

How to Preserve an Orange

How to Preserve an Orange is an interactive performance  incorporating ritual, poetry, and movement. The performance is approximately 45 minutes in duration. During the performance, I give each person present an orange and guide us through a series of interactions and visualizations deepening our relationship with the citrus. I weave interludes of poetic texts throughout the process. I guide us through moving with the orange, considering scent and texture, and accessing our own vast archives of memories connected to oranges. The performance is an experiment in attunement: in this guided process, what we focus our attention on grows. We develop an intimacy by being present with each other, the process and poetry, and the fruit in physical space together. The performance culminates with an invitation to preserve the orange through “consumption.” The audience is invited to eat the orange, as the orange (and everything that we have cultivated in this shared experience) will become part of each of us.