Role Reflection: "Eve the Temptress" By Kandice Grossman

Collage by Kandice Grossman

"Mother Nature" is divided into two sets - the first being an exploration of women's bodies as metaphors of the planet earth. The second being an exploration into the exploitive relationship humans have with both the planet and women's bodies. As the artistic director, I chose to incorporate the mythological and religious symbol of Eve into the first set.

In Judeo-Christian beliefs, Eve is a central figure in the creation story as told in the book of Genesis. Most interpretations portray her as the reason humanity "fell" from a place of innocence to that of sinly awareness. We all know how this version of the story goes: she was tempted by the serpent to partake in the fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge - and she fell for it. Then she tempted Adam and he quickly followed suit. They were both promptly punished and all of humanity was doomed to forever live in the lustful state of original sin.

In my feminist artistic interpretation of Eve, I imagine her as a curious, intelligent woman seeking greater understanding of her innate sexual powers. Rather than a tempestuous relationship with the  serpent, the serpent represents the goddess, rebirth, fertility and knowledge. The apple represents her opportunity to awaken to power.  In this dance, Eve intuitively begins to recognize that her body can become a means to experiencing sacred communion with the divine. The divine in this story is not an asexual male god, as described in the Old Testament, or a sexualized female goddess. The divine, or ultimate reality, is incomprehensible and far beyond human attributes of femininity or masculinity. But, we work with what we got, right? Eve had feminine energy. 

Ancient religions acknowledged that women's power arises from an understanding of the interconnectedness of all people and life, of the cycles of nature and the cycles of our bodies. Divorcing ourselves from from the natural world as we are now doing in modern culture, brings disconnection and violence to the planet and, essentially, our bodies. The dance of Eve is about tempting ourselves back into this ancient wisdom and power. 

MOON dance company is presenting "Mother Nature" October 3-4, 2015 at Talking Horse Theatre in Columbia, MO.
Tickets go on sale online in August. 

---