“I want to do as I please. I want to perform in pantomimes, even plays. I want to dance naked if a leotard bothers me or mars my figure. I want to retire to an island if I please, or seek the company of women who make a living with their charms, as long as they are joyful, eccentric, or even prone to melancholia and wisdom, as many ladies of the night tend to be. I want to write books of sadness and chastity where the only characters are landscapes, flowers, sorrow, pride, and the charming guilelessness of man-fearing animals… I want to cast smiles upon all welcoming faces and steer clear of ugly, dirty, foul-smelling people. I want to cherish whomever will love me and bestow everything I own upon them: my body that hates to share, my oh-so-tender heart and my freedom!”

Colette, Les Vrilles de la vigne (The Tendrils of the Vine).

ONLINE FEB 1 AT 8.30 P.M.