Wednesday October 26, 2011 – MORPHOSES presents its production of Luca Veggetti’s BACCHAE at The Joyce. The work draws inspiration from – but is not a literal setting of – Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy. Composer Paolo Aralla and flautist Erin Lesser are major forces in this creation, with lighting by Roderick Murray and costumes by Mr. Veggetti and Benjamin Briones. In the top photo: dancer Gabrielle Lamb.
Luca Veggetti’s BACCHAE is a dancework which summons up images of both the rites of the Bacchae – those wild women driven to ecstacy in their worship of Dionysus – and the death of the Theban King Pentheus at their hands. Set in a space surrounded in black silk drapery, the ballet takes on a funereal tone as the abstracted narrative moves to its brutal climax. The sudden exposure of the rear brick wall near the end draws us back to reality, awakening from a nighmare of deception and murder.
In a prologue, a puppet (skillfully manipulated by an actor all in black) mimes sets forth themes of the Dionysian rituals to which the Bacchae subscribe. At the dress rehearsal this device seemed to me not to work very well, but it the performance it was surprisingly effective.
But we have already met Dionysus by this time; as in the play, ‘he’ is the first player to appear: Euripides describes his appearance and demeanor as feminine, and Luca Veggetti casts a female – Frances Chiarverini (above) – in the role. Frances is a mistress of the Veggetti style which calls for fluid movement, maintaining a steady flow of motion through knees that are often bent, keeping the body low to the floor. Pivoting and sliding across the space as the hands and arms cut thru the air in angled gestures, the effect can be spiderlike and in this darkish setting seemed almost ominous.
As King Pentheus, the antagonist of the disguised god and who is determined to end the Bacchic rites, Adrian Danchig-Waring (above) brought magnificent presence and powerful dancing to the role. Lured into the trap Dionysus sets for him – an invitation to witness the Bacchae at their rituals – Adrian’s Pentheus is seduced and betrayed to his death.
The two-part pas de deux of Pentheus and his cousin Dionysus is a central aspect of BACCHAE, danced with a powerful sense of give-and-take by Adrian and Frances (above).
The third major character in the drama is Agave, the mother of Pentheus, who unwittingly murders her son after he is caught secretly witnessing the Dionysian revels of the Bacchae. Gabrielle Lamb’s passionate sense of drama – seemingly a natural gift rather than something she’s developed – was vividly projected through both her intense facial expressiveness and her superbly limber body.
The idea of a traditional Greek chorus is adapted here with an ensemble of excellent dancers who weave themselves into the dramatic situations, often appearing or vanishing under the hems of the silken drapes.
As one of the Bacchae, dancer Yusha-Marie Sorzano (above) carries a stick – a reference to the first confrontation between the Bacchae and the soldiers of Pentheus who were sent to shut down their celebrations and bring order out of chaos. The women, using only sticks, were able to fend off the armed guards thru the fervour of their passionate loyalty to Dionysus. In an ensemble, the woman swipe and flourish their sticks thru the air, moving to the swooshing sounds in aggressive stances.
In the opening scene, standing on the sounding platform which is a central element of the work, flautist Erin Lesser (above) evokes the shifting winds of time as she breathes and even speaks across the mouthpiece of her enormous contrabass flute. Throughout this long ‘aria’, Ms. Lesser’s energies and technical skills seemed to re-double from one passage to the next…
…while in the final scene, she re-appears playing her silver flute as Agave/Gabrielle ponders her violent act.
Luca Veggetti and his collegues have crafted a work that is unlike any other, a unique and evocative summoning of an ancient tale that speaks clearly to us of the vanity of gods and the fervor of their followers which can so often go to extremes. Very apt for today’s world.
More of Kokyat’s images from this production appear here.
I felt it was of tremendous benefit to my enjoyment of the evening that I took the time to read the Euripides play before attending. The ballet, which lasts a little over an hour, seemed too short in a way; I wanted more.
So good to see Arlene Cooper, Giorgia Bovo, Emery LeCrone and Justin Peck among the audience this evening.
Synopsis of the dancework:
“Dionysus, the god of wine, prophecy, religious ecstasy, and fertility returns to his birthplace in Thebes in order to clear his mother’s name and punish the insolent city-state for refusing to allow people to worship him.
King Pentheus of Thebes has declared illegal the Bacchic rituals initiated by his cousin Dionysus. As these rituals represent a threat to social order, King Pentheus orders his soldiers to violently suppress them.
Dionysus begins the long process of trapping Pentheus, leading him to his death. He convinces the intrigued and excited king to witness the rituals and volunteers to help him clandestinely observe the highly secretive all-female gatherings.
Dionysus, manipulating the situation, orders the Bacchic worshippers, including the king’s mother Agave, to attack the now vulnerable ruler. As he falls, Pentheus reaches for his mother’s face but Agave, driven mad by Dionysus, proceeds to rip her son limb from limb.”
MORPHOSES dancers:
Watch an brief BACCHAE video here.
Kokyat and I have followed the creation of BACCHAE from the audition process thru a preview evening (where the mystical ‘sound platform’ was introduced) to a recent studio rehearsal. Luca Veggetti and MORPHOSES artistic director Lourdes Lopez have graciously given us an insider’s look at their creative process, and the dancers have been so kind and generous as we eavesdropped on their work.
Oberon's Glade 