photo by Peter Smith Photography
Production
| Scenic Designer |
Jeff Bauer |
| Costume Designers |
Jeff Bauer
Rachel Arnsdorf |
| Lighting Designer |
Mary Cole |
| Stage Manager |
Stephen Siercks |
Sponsors
The reconstruction of "Primitive Mysteries" was made possible by American Masterpieces: Dance, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, which is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts with Dance/USA.
Production Photos
Click here to view photos from the production.
Program
Click here to view the program.
Choreography by Martha Graham, guest artist Leyya Tawil and faculty Amy Chavasse, Peter Sparling, Sandra Torijano, and Robin Wilson
University Dance Company
Power Center for the Performing Arts
February 1 - 4, 2007
Overview
The Story:
The University Dance Company explores rites of passage in Rituals & Reveries. Highlighting the evening is a re-staging of Martha Graham’s seminal work for thirteen women, Primitive Mysteries, created in 1931. A masterwork of sustained dramatic tension and austere, formal structure, Primitive Mysteries is a Miracle Play in three parts evoking the rituals of Spanish and Native Americans in the American Southwest. In counterpoint to Graham’s work is Peter Sparling’s revival of Witness for thirteen men. Created in 1990 in response to the devastating loss of countless men to the AIDS plague in the last decades of the 20th century, Witness features music by Vincent Persichetti and Arvo Pärt. Guest faculty member Leyya Tawil, artistic director of the California based Dance Elixir, presents Raincoat Rebellion. Exploring regeneration — whether cultural, urban, or personal renewal —Raincoat Rebellion is set at the moment of exaltation when the old is shed and the new is embraced. Whether, by new faculty member Amy Chavasse, examines a replay of a disaster - wondering whether reconciliation could replace enmity between adversaries if chance and choice had played out differently. The work is set to music by Arthur Brooks and Dmitri Shostakovich. Robin Wilson creates Blank Spaces, a reflection on the effects of the loss of memory. Rounding out the evening is Amighetti, a work by Sandra Torijano which examines the cultural tradition of her native Costa Rica of community support for families in need.
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