This piece was conceived within the Gallatin Interarts Collaboration at NYU, led by Professor Leslie Satin. It was initially inspired from L.A. Kessler's poem Is the World Having a Midlife Crisis?, and revolves around the common theme of world history as seen through Mother Earth's point of view. Backed by an array of nature and rain sounds presented both visually and sonically throughout the piece, all three women represent different ages of the Mother Earth.
As performed in its debut performance in New York -- the first woman portrays the Ancient Mother through ritual dance set to the music of Hildegard von Bingen; the second woman portrays contemporary women using an original interpretation of Walt Whitman's "I Sing The Body Electric" touching on issues of the female form and body image ; and the third woman portrays the hope for the future of Mother Earth using Katie Garrett's poem Earth Cycles, nature sounds and audience participation. The women are united in a timeless corridor dance improvisation at both the beginning and end of the piece, while nature sounds and images of rivers, flowers and sunsets are present throughout on a video screen.
View a video clip of The Mother Earth in Real Media [28.8] [ISDN]
L.A. Kessler writes, "This was a 40 minute commissioned multimedia collaboration with members of the University of Dayton, Colonel White High School for the Arts and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC). The cast was one of the most diverse I've ever worked with, ranging from age 8 to 68, and featuring non-artists as well as dancers, actors, poets, vocalists and installation artists. I composed and performed the music.
The score of the piece uses the seasons of the calendar (spring, summer, autumn, winter) to metaphorically represent the seasons of life (childhood, young adulthood, middle-age, golden age). Each of the four segments featured an age-appropriate actor or non-artist who wrote or selected their own poem which they read over original background music suited to the age and season. Following each poem, an additional musical piece was played and interpreted by a dancer. In the culmination, a vocalist sang an original song about the timelessness of the arts through every age, while the dancer incorporated all four actors and seasons into the finale."
View a video clip of Life Cycles in Real Media [28.8] [ISDN]