Fourth in a
series on my collaboration with the Atlanta Ballet
So far in this series of blogs about my commission
for the Atlanta Ballet and my collaborative work with choreographer and dancer Tara
Lee, I have focused broadly on how the project was started and how it has
changed over the course of our working together. Yet, these are not usually the
first things people ask about when they find out I am working with the Ballet.
The most common questions I receive are, “What is the ballet about?” and “What
is the name of the piece?”
Like everything else about the project, the name and
concept have undergone several changes since Tara and I initially met months
ago. Tara’s earliest idea was that of a continuum.
We were not sure where this continuum began nor where it led. It was the barest
of ideas. Through multiple conversations, the idea of continuum began to
evolve. What if we were not talking about a linear continuum but rather a
cyclic continuum? The idea of cycles
began to take root. We even came up with a working title for the piece: revolve.
It was still a nascent thought, however, until Tara presented a more concrete
programmatic element.
The finished score! |
One afternoon, while meeting at the ballet studios, Tara
shared an article with me that had been posted on Facebook entitled, The Peacock Pose: Dance with Divinity by
Catherine Ghosh. This article helped Tara form a more definite idea about the
dramatic narrative of the work. The imagery of the peacock seemed to unify our
amorphous concepts by incorporating three ideas from the mayurasana, or the so-called peacock
pose in Yoga to our pre-existing notion of cycles. Tara was also inspired at
this point by hearing samples of the music I had composed for certain sections
of the piece. After hearing my sketches, thinking about cycles and reading
Catherine Ghosh’s article, she proposed that we change the name of the piece
from revolve to Pavo - the Latin word for
peacock.
To quote Ms. Ghosh, from her article:
“Overflowing with rich symbolism, the image of a peacock displaying its fan of
feathers has been as cherished as a rising sun, a picture of the heavenly
constellations in the sky, a hundred eyes and the wheel of immortality.”
Throughout history, the image of the peacock has captivated many diverse
cultures and religious traditions. Within my own faith tradition, I was well
aware of the peacock’s depiction in Byzantine art as the soul and its
beautiful, incorruptible status as well as the Orthodox Christian view of the
peacock as an ancient symbol of the Resurrection: as he sheds his feathers,
the peacock grows more brilliant ones than those he lost. I was thrilled with
Tara’s concept and finally felt some solid ground beneath my compositional
feet. It wasn’t long after Tara presented this idea to me that I completed the
entire score.
Pavo is cast
into five movements played without interruption. This seamless series of events
is the remnant of our earliest concept of a continuum. First, the piece begins with a relatively slow and
atmospheric introduction. This introduction leads directly into the second
movement and the first aspect of the peacock pose we wish to highlight. The
movement is entitled the poisons. The music and dance
concern themselves with the peacock’s uncanny ability to digest snakes, poison
and all. From this, we move directly to the third movement, the
gathering storm. This movement plays with the imagery of the wonderful,
restless dancing a peacock performs just prior to rainstorms. Having reached a
very energetic and rhythmic high point, the music and dance abruptly shift
gears and move directly into the climatic section of the piece: the fourth
movement entitled transfigurations. Peacocks choose mates for life and as such
have become a symbol of fidelity. In this movement, there are two ideas at
play. First there is the aspect of faithfulness and strength. Secondly, there
is the subtext of cycles remaining
from our very earliest ideas about the piece. Now, however, we focus on the
individual and the breaking out of personal cycles. These cycles can represent
negative aspects of our lives (addictions, poor choices, bad habits, etc.) or
the entire cycle of our lives. In either context, the individual has the
ability to break negative cycles as well as transcend the earthly life cycle. Tara
has conceived of an abstract narrative where one dancer represents the peacock
and another an individual caught within a cycle. The peacock dances and absorbs
the poison of negative cycles and in a lyric duet, helps to show a
transfiguring pathway to the individual. Thus, this movement provides a context
wherein the dancers are transfigured beyond the circle they began within. After
this climatic dance, the music ends quietly with an atmospheric fifth movement:
an epilogue.
This music is a sort of retrograde of the ideas found in the introduction. Ultimately, we leave the
listener with a question: will I choose to transcend my own cycle or remain
within?
At long last, all the elements are set.
We have a narrative, the score is complete, there is choreography, dancers have
already started rehearsing with computer renditions of the piece and the
musicians have their respective parts. Now we enter the eye of the hurricane
and await the rehearsals with musicians and dancers, adding in set design and
lighting along the way. I can hardly wait!