Collections from New River Gorge National Park Site Visit
New River Gorge National Park is the newest national park in the country and protects a very diverse set of ecosystems within the temperate rainforest biome of Appalachia. I traveled with three of my dancers: Madeline Denman, Sydney Lettau, and Allison Smith. This time it was about a four hour drive and we spent two days total in West Virginia. Upon arrival at the park I, once again, took an hour to collect sound recordings and video of the site while Maddie, Sydney, and Allison explored the area for themselves. When we came back together we talked a lot about the complex history of this place and West Virginia in general. While there was less foot traffic than at Beaver Marsh, there were still very clear evidences of human use, including an abandoned mining town and railroad that you could see from the overlook. It had just finished raining when we arrived so all around us were the sound of water droplets filtering through the canopy and down to the soil. It was humid and warm and slippery. The Gorge has a lot of exposed rock walls where you can see the layers of history that make up the soil and provide a natural water filtering system as well as the coal that West Virginia is known for. On our way home the next day, we stopped thirty minutes away from New River Gorge at Kayford Mountain, one of the last remaining mountains within an area that has been devastated by mountaintop removal and, looking out over the flattened tops around us, we talked about the complexity of human needs and what we lose and gain from practices that destroy natural systems.
List of scores to use in New River Gorge National Park including some reflections from the site visit 
Continued reflection from the New River Gorge site visit 
These are the objects that I chose for the Collecting and Discarding Score used in New River Gorge 
Maddie’s reflections from the Orientation Score used at New River Gorge 
Maddie’s reflections from the Transmission Through Touching score used in New River Gorge as well as the Source Reflection score following the Collecting and Discarding score 
This is Maddie’s “pancake” and other objects chosen for the Collecting and Discarding Score used in New Rivier Gorge 
Maddie’s reflections on the Collaborative Observation score and the Future Site score used at New River Gorge 
These are Sydney’s reflections from the Orientation Score and Mushroom Walk Score used in New River Gorge. 
These are Sydney’s reflections from the Transmission Through Touching Score and Source Reflection Score used in New River Gorge. 
These are Sydney’s objects chosen for the Collecting and Discarding Score used in New River Gorge 
These are Sydney’s reflections from the Arriving Score and Future Site score used in New River Gorge. 
These are Allison’s reflections from the Mushroom Walk score, Transmission Through Touching score, and Source Reflection score used in New River Gorge. 
These are Allison’s reflections from the Orientation Score used in New River Gorge. 
These are the objects that Allison chose for the Collecting and Discarding score used in New River Gorge 
This is Allison’s reflection on the Collaborative Observation score used in New River Gorge. 
These are Allison’s reflection on the Future Site score used in New River Gorge. 
This is a millipede that we stopped to admire while in New River Gorge
This is Sydney’s physical response to the Orientation Score, responding to a leaf stuck in a spiderweb.
This is Allison’s physical response to multiple points of attention from the Orientation Score.
This is Maddie’s physical response to the Orientation Score and the texture of the atmosphere on her body.
This is Sydney’s physical response to the Collaborative Observation score that details the system of death and regeneration within the forest.
This was my physical response to the Orientation Score and the growth that is always happening in the ecosystem even if we cannot see it within our time-scale.
Kara Komarnitsky 