The Butterfly Affect is a guided experience to travel through a butterfly’s metamorphosis from egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, to butterfly. It is an invitation for homo sapiens to contemplate growth within themselves—to emerge transformed and ready to co-create an equitable, survivable, and thrive-able world for life and the eco-systems upon which life depends. All will witness three volunteers from the audience enter the half-hour experience transforming through costume and movement from an egg to a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and finally emerging as a butterfly. Delving into the science of a butterfly’s metamorphosis and embodying each stage can allow the opportunity to focus on something within the self that is yearning to transform. Contemplation of a butterfly’s metamorphosis contains useful truths, codes, and inspiration for emergence that carries meaning for this moment in multi-species evolutionary history. An egg, a caterpillar, chrysalis, and a butterfly are all created of the same matter, yet are capable of remarkable change from one iteration to the next. This transformation suggests that change needn’t be scary or include deprivation, but, rather, could leave us lighter, beautiful, and capable of new flight. This performance experience is designed to impress upon participants that they have within them all that they need to be the change they yearn for right now. One of the creators of this project, Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke (co-creator Sarah Fahmy Professor at Florida State Univ.) will introduce this project, lead all through the experience, and then share the impact of the world tour of this piece. Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke in performance.

Venue: Brook

All are invited to JLF Colorado - an annual international literature festival of books, ideas, stories and camaraderie - September 13-14 at Boulder Public Library.