Project:
Flor-Essence
Four years ago, Keely Mackey conceived of this project. Two years ago, she located the collaborators, Professor Eden Radfar (interactive projection design and development) and Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales (lead choreographer) and we started the background work on this project.
From April to July of 2026, we had the time and space gifted to us upon acceptance to New Mexico's Dance Hackathon, through which rehearsals and performances were located in the UNM ArtsLab (Art, Research, Technology, and Science) a transdisciplinary center for emerging media, which allowed us to explore and create within its theater space (now joined by choreographer and dancer, Maureen Gorman), utilizing the video screen for macrovideography projection, and movement and sound reactive technology, which resulted in the interactive feedback loops projected. We invite you to join us as we continue this expansive project!
Flor-essence: Rosa
Flor-essence: Rosa
I Bud
II Bloom
III Fade
IV Essence 528 Hz
Keely Mackey-Gonzales: Concept & lead artist, macro photographer, macro videographer, composer, cellist
Eden Radfarr: Collaborating artist, interactive projection design & development
Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales: Lead choreographer
Maureen Gorman: Choreographer, dancer
Flor-essence: Rosa - Inspiration
Rosa explores the symbolism, form, and healing presence of the wild native roses of New Mexico. The project begins with the understanding that every flower holds a story: what does it embody, what shapes define it, and what memories or medicines does it carry? Inspired by the tradition of floriography—where flowers communicate symbolic meanings—the work draws on the rose as a vessel for messages of hope, remembrance, and renewal.
Flor-essence: Rosa - Creative Process
The creative process is guided by the idea that plant medicines can inform artistic practice, thus our creative team engaged in intimate embodied explorations of the rose and its essence including distilling and consuming rose water, eating rose petals, making rose pulp beads and creating rose dye used for painting and dying the garments worn in this production. This process inspired the original choreography, music composition, and visual media that respond to each other in feedback loops, and that together become a ritual of honoring.
Process & Performance Gallery
