biology

Exploring our humanity

Body Line of Thought (BLOT) examines “our microbiome as a collection of organisms in perpetual transformation.” (photo by Ionut Rusu)

Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance) and Simona Deaconescu (Tangja Collective) explore aspects of our humanity in their dance and art. Their collaborative Body Line of Thought (BLOT) is a four-video installation that “aims to strip the body of social meanings and rethink it as an interconnected system.”

BLOT runs Nov. 24-28, 1-4 p.m., at KW Studios as part of the Dance Centre’s 13th biennial Dance in Vancouver.

“In BLOT, we are interested in examining our microbiome as a collection of organisms in perpetual transformation,” explained Goodman. “The human body contains trillions of microorganisms, that outnumber human cells by 10 to one. Each person’s bacterial composition acts as an ersatz fingerprint: when two people touch, they exchange parts of this identity. With each point of contact we essentially ‘infect’ each other with bacteria. We incorporate these themes of communication and contamination on a physical level. We are interested in the banality and the danger of such exchanges.

“One of the main focuses of BLOT is centred around bacteria being an agent of infection and salt becoming a cleaning and restructuring force in our bodies,” she continued. “We are not scientists, but we are fascinated by how these basic elements of our biological makeup can drastically inform our mental and physical health. Both salt and bacteria transform organic material, and we are drawn to transformation within our work. We are interested in applying these relationships to our art practice, and this has allowed us to create a new space to explore conceptually and physically.”

Without salt, “senses are dulled, muscles can’t fire, and nerves cease to function,” Goodman said. “In BLOT, salt acts as a conductor for our creativity. We explore salt as a staging material and incorporate many of its tactile qualities across various mediums, providing a textural through-line between visuals, sound and movement. We try to reframe the banality of sweat, a ubiquitous element of every dance, as a thematic focus instead of a mere byproduct.”

As part of their research, Goodman and Deaconescu went to Portugal, where they were in residence with Bio-Friction at Cultivamos Cultura. There, said Goodman, “we learned how to cultivate our own bacteria in agar dishes and studied this information and imagery to build BLOT.

“Our work in dance and art aims to speak not only about widely discussed issues but also about the unseen life that shapes our body and connects it with the outside world,” she said. “We seek reciprocity in our practice, parallel to that of a healthy immune system: to become stronger, one must first be vulnerable and exposed.” (BLOT includes nudity.)

BLOT was presented as a three-video installation at Left on Main last year, via 20 personal Zoom performances. Its creators, Goodman and Deaconescu (who is also a filmmaker), connected when they were both choreographers at Springboard Danse Montréal in 2019.

“During this intensive working period, we realized how many artistic interests we share,” said Goodman. “We both use a deconstructed vernacular that flirts with pop culture and is mediated by the lens of conceptual and physical landscapes. We are interested in looking at the body as a biological technology that can be altered by its environment, which is especially relevant today.”

Dance in Vancouver features many ticketed and free events at various locations. This year’s festival was co-curated by Australia-based Angela Conquet with Michelle Olson and Starr Muranko of Vancouver’s Raven Spirit Dance. Some performances, films and events will also be available online. For tickets and information, visit thedancecentre.ca/event/dance-in-vancouver-2021.

The start of an ancient grove?

The date palm Methuselah “is a big boy now.” (photo from Arava Institute)

When I contacted Dr. Elaine Solowey, a California-born botanist of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura, for an update on the date palm Methuselah, she said, “He is a big boy now. He has flowered several times and his pollen is good. I hope to have some good news about companions for him.”

In honour of Tu b’Shevat in 2011, I wrote about Methuselah for the Jewish Independent and other publications. What best symbolizes the holiday known in the Talmud as Rosh Hashanah l’Ilanot, the New Year of the Trees, more than dates?

For that 2011 article, I interviewed London-born Dr. Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis Borick Natural Medicine Research Centre at Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, who is friends and colleagues with Solowey.

Sallon said that, in 2005, “we were interested in rejuvenating lost flora of Eretz Yisrael,” including the Judaean date. During a conversation with scientists about extracting DNA from ancient seeds, she wondered about the possibility of growing such seeds, and Masada came up.

In the early 1960s, during excavations of Masada – the fortress built by King Herod more than 2,000 years ago – archeologists Yigal Yadin and Ehud Netzer found date palm seeds. Under the custodianship of Netzer, the seeds were stored at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv.

At the Louis Borick Centre, Sallon directs research on complementary alternative and integrated medicine through the Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project. After studying medicines of Tibet, as an introduction to the ancient world of traditional medicine, the centre began to look at the medicinal plants of Eretz Yisrael, of which there are approximately 2,900 species. Sallon asked Netzer if she and her researchers could have a few seeds, and they were given five palm seeds, which Sallon took to Solowey.

photo - Methuselah in 2005 — Methuselah in 2005. *(photo from Arava Institute)*

Solowey took three of the ancient seeds and planted them in January 2005. Other seeds were sent to the University of Zurich, Switzerland, for radiocarbon dating and other testing. The date palm, which can be male or female, was domesticated more than 6,000 years ago, and is used for lung disease, colds, heart disease, hair growth and other things.

After eight weeks, in March 2005, one seed successfully germinated and was named Methuselah, after the biblical person who was said to have lived 969 years. Initially, the leaves had white spots because of a lack of chlorophyll. At 15 months, the seedling was transferred to a larger pot. After 26 months, the plant showed normal development, and Sallon said Methuselah is accepted by Guinness World Records as the oldest seed cultivated.

In 2011, I saw a photograph of Methuselah on a computer when its location was secret. At that time, it was two metres high (about six-and-a-half feet) and in a “protected quarantine site,” due to its scientific and financial value. In April of that year, a white flower appeared on the inner part of the tree, indicating that Methuselah was a male date palm. And, on Nov. 24, 2011, Methuselah was planted at Kibbutz Ketura.

Today, Methuselah has a permanent home at the Arava Institute research park on Kibbutz Ketura. As I wrote this update, there was hope for Methuselah to be bred with a female tree to produce the same date variety eaten commonly in ancient Judea, where it was valued as much for its flavour as for its medicinal properties.

Solowey continues to work with palms and has grown other date palms from ancient seeds found in archeological sites around the Dead Sea, as well.

“I’m trying to figure out how to plant an ancient date grove,” she said. And, if she can succeed in bringing forth a modern grove of ancient trees, it would provide unique insight into history. “We would know what kind of dates they ate in those days and what they were like,” she said. “That would be very exciting.”

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer and food writer in Jerusalem. She created and leads the weekly English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda, she has compiled and edited nine kosher cookbooks, and is the author of Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel.

2017 Dan David Prize winners

Author Jamaica Kincaid is among the Dan David Prize winners this year. (photo from TAU via Ashernet)

Tel Aviv University (TAU) has announced the winners of this year’s Dan David Prize, which will be awarded at a ceremony at TAU on May 21. Sometimes referred to as “Israel’s Nobel Prize,” this year’s recipients are Swedish biologist Prof. Svante Pääbo, American geneticist Prof. David Reich, American author Jamaica Kincaid, Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua, American astrophysicists Prof. Neil Gehrels and Prof. Shrinivas Kulkarni, and Polish astronomer and astrophysicist Prof. Andrzej Udalski.

The prize is named after the late Dan David, an international businessman and philanthropist.

Born in Romania in 1929, David worked for Romanian TV and later became a press photographer. In 1960, he settled in Israel. A year later, he traveled to Europe. With a loan from a cousin, he won the franchise for the Photo-Me automated photography booths in certain countries, and opened branches in several European countries, as well as in Israel, and eventually took over the company.

In 2000, he founded the Dan David Foundation with a $100 million endowment. The first time the annual prize was awarded was in 2002. David’s aim was to reward those who have made a lasting impact on society and to help young students and entrepreneurs become the leaders and scholars of the future.

David died in London, England, in September 2011.