Staten Island-based dancer and choreographer Melissa West is working on a new project tentatively named “in the eve they plant flowers” after a poem she wrote of the same name. West says she was inspired by classic literature and recent worldwide protests, including the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street.

This is West’s first time developing a dance with the aid of books.

“Normally I use paintings or visual arts, so this is very it’s very funny,” she says. “This is a very different perspective for me.”