Last weekend I went back to Bloomington to see a show my sister put together. It was an amazing combination of dance, music and improvisation, held on a summer night, outside, deep in an Indiana woods and meadow. There was a soiree beforehand for Nell’s supporters and a party late into the night afterwards with a crowd of extremely interesting and creative people. A cabaret-style performance of show tunes was particularly during the soiree was wonderful, especially "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and the song from Porgy and Bess.As the show started, George the tall troubadour led the audience on a walk through this woods. The theme was our interactions with and conception of God and the gods. A beautifully done folk song performed by Carrie and Krista about the mystical experience possible in the meadow, opened the show. Next was an operatic scene in which a hapless young woman humorously confessed that she had really done it now, and was then exhorted by God for having done it without consulting him first but on the other hand assured by Fate that she had no choice in doing it. We never know quite what “it” is but clearly it has caused a lot of grief. A Greek chorus led by Nell's friend Janiece stood by and chimed in on all the troubles and grief humans can get themselves into and the many plaints that result, not the least of which: "My dog has flees." In the end, a satyr lured the heroine off deep into the woods, and we followed.
We walked down the hill past mysterious lights held by members of the chorus amid thundering sounds of solemnity and tiny bell chimes, and then gathered to observe a quite incredible dance, which began with male and female shapes in shadow behind a red cloth, with chorus and music accompanying. The dance, done first together by Marielle and Robert, showed different aspects of a relationship between two people and perhaps also their relationship with spirituality; ultimately the larger shadow of a god hovered over the vulnerable human outstretched on the ground. Then they parted, and Robert did an amazingly powerful dance by himself with the long red cloth suspended from a tree, that seemed to show the emotion of wanting to reach out to love or be loved, and instead feeling trapped and anguished, but eventually finding one’s way back to the beginning and to life again.
After this we walked further to a hidden alcove in the forest, where we heard another dulcimer-accompanied musical piece by Carrie and Krista and later a drumming dialog deep in the woods, with a distantly heard and humorous argument/dialog/profession of love between a primitive couple.
We walked on to another clearing where the chorus of women stood, singing in a rhythmic African beat with great joy and making us all want to clap and join in. Then they stopped, picked up lights in both hands, and did a mysterious dance in the darkness the reminded me of fireflies. They began singing an old folk song and the audience joined in singing as well as we headed up the hill:
The water is wide,
I cannot get o’er.
Neither have I wings to fly.
Give me a boat
That will carry two.
And both shall row,
My true love and I.
It felt so good to sing along with that song—it soothed the soul. We walked back up and stood by the upper pond, where Scott did a beautifully creative dance from a platform in the middle of the pond, his body reflected in the water, with a blue ball of light that floated away from him and eventually returned to him as, in his dance, he emerged slowly from the water in an awakening, and eventually strode out of the pond toward a vision of a glowing angel on the far shore to whom he handed the ball, which I imagined represented his spirituality or soul.
Finally we walked to a simple stage, where Nell did her improvisational movement theater. This was the first time I had seen her do this particular kind of performance, and I was thrilled to finally see it. She spoke of memories we shared from our childhood, both heartbreaking (memories of my troubled brother) and beautiful. When a freight train and demolition sounds from the county fair threatened to distract her performance, she managed to weave them seamlessly into the storytelling. I especially loved her description of the candle boats on McCormick’s Creek during Y-camp and how magical they looked at night, floating down the stream. She talked about a conversation she had with my father where she asked him whether he believed in God. He replied that he did not believe in God, but believed in good, and that if we did good, he knew that it would come back around. To me this was a great way to end the show, tying back to the theme once more.
Nell is surrounded and helped to do all this each year by a loving group of astounding friends, some quite well known either locally or nationally for their creative work. I was hugely impressed by everything she and the group had accomplished with this show and look forward to seeing others in the future.
We walked down the hill past mysterious lights held by members of the chorus amid thundering sounds of solemnity and tiny bell chimes, and then gathered to observe a quite incredible dance, which began with male and female shapes in shadow behind a red cloth, with chorus and music accompanying. The dance, done first together by Marielle and Robert, showed different aspects of a relationship between two people and perhaps also their relationship with spirituality; ultimately the larger shadow of a god hovered over the vulnerable human outstretched on the ground. Then they parted, and Robert did an amazingly powerful dance by himself with the long red cloth suspended from a tree, that seemed to show the emotion of wanting to reach out to love or be loved, and instead feeling trapped and anguished, but eventually finding one’s way back to the beginning and to life again.
After this we walked further to a hidden alcove in the forest, where we heard another dulcimer-accompanied musical piece by Carrie and Krista and later a drumming dialog deep in the woods, with a distantly heard and humorous argument/dialog/profession of love between a primitive couple.
We walked on to another clearing where the chorus of women stood, singing in a rhythmic African beat with great joy and making us all want to clap and join in. Then they stopped, picked up lights in both hands, and did a mysterious dance in the darkness the reminded me of fireflies. They began singing an old folk song and the audience joined in singing as well as we headed up the hill:
The water is wide,
I cannot get o’er.
Neither have I wings to fly.
Give me a boat
That will carry two.
And both shall row,
My true love and I.
It felt so good to sing along with that song—it soothed the soul. We walked back up and stood by the upper pond, where Scott did a beautifully creative dance from a platform in the middle of the pond, his body reflected in the water, with a blue ball of light that floated away from him and eventually returned to him as, in his dance, he emerged slowly from the water in an awakening, and eventually strode out of the pond toward a vision of a glowing angel on the far shore to whom he handed the ball, which I imagined represented his spirituality or soul.
Finally we walked to a simple stage, where Nell did her improvisational movement theater. This was the first time I had seen her do this particular kind of performance, and I was thrilled to finally see it. She spoke of memories we shared from our childhood, both heartbreaking (memories of my troubled brother) and beautiful. When a freight train and demolition sounds from the county fair threatened to distract her performance, she managed to weave them seamlessly into the storytelling. I especially loved her description of the candle boats on McCormick’s Creek during Y-camp and how magical they looked at night, floating down the stream. She talked about a conversation she had with my father where she asked him whether he believed in God. He replied that he did not believe in God, but believed in good, and that if we did good, he knew that it would come back around. To me this was a great way to end the show, tying back to the theme once more.
Nell is surrounded and helped to do all this each year by a loving group of astounding friends, some quite well known either locally or nationally for their creative work. I was hugely impressed by everything she and the group had accomplished with this show and look forward to seeing others in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment