TAKING WING
March 16 - 19, 2005
Excerpts from 'There is a Time' (1956)
Choreography: José Limón
Commissioned Score: Norman Dello Joio *
Direction and Reconstruction: Risa Steinberg
Rehearsal Direction: Patricia Miner
Original Costume Design: Pauline Lawrence
"A time to kill;"
Dancer: Jasmin McGraw
"And a time to heal;"
Dancers: Marie France Forcier, Linnea Wong
"A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;"
Dancers: Amber Kilback, Anna Finkel
"A time to mourn;...and a time to weep;"
Dancers: Jennifer Fullerton, Jasmin McGraw, Elke Schroeder
"A time to laugh...a time to dance;"
Dancer: Melissa Lively
Understudy: Kathryn Oledzki
Costumes on loan courtesy of Caroline O’Brien at the National Ballet School.
first performed April 20, 1956 at the Juilliard School of Music by the José Limón Dance Company
The entire work is, both choreographically and musically, a theme with variations. The choreographer used as his theme a large circle, which, at the opening of the (full) work, fills the stage and moves majestically as if to evoke the interminable passage of time. This circle is seen repeatedly in many guises, rhythms, and dramatic shapes, always making allusion to the text from Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes and its evocation of human experience.
* “Meditations on Ecclesiastes,” commissioned for José Limón by the Juilliard Music Foundation and its Festival of American Music, April 1956. This score earned the composer the Pulitzer Prize in 1957.
“Meditations on Ecclesiastes,” copyright 1959 by Carl Fischer, Inc.
©1996, José Limón Dance Foundation. This performance of excerpts from There is a Time, a Limónsm dance, is presented by arrangement with The José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc. and has been produced in accordance with the Limón Stylesm and Limón Techniquesm service standards established by The José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc. Limónsm, Limón Stylesm and Limón Techniquesm are trade and service marks of The José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc. (all rights reserved).
First Music (1969)
Choreography: Patricia Beatty
Music: “The Unanswered Question,” Charles Ives; Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (Lukas Foss, conductor; Roger Voisin, trumpet)
Rehearsal Direction: Miriane Braaf, Grace Miyagawa
Rehearsal Assistance: Susan Macpherson
Lighting Design: Gavin McDonald after Frank Masi
Costume Design: Susan Macpherson
Set Design: David Davis
Dancer: Hailey McCloskey
Thank you to Penny Couchie for her outstanding participation in the rehearsal process.
Excerpts from 'Apollo’s Touch' (1997)
Choreography: Christopher House
Music: “Apollo’s Touch,” Rodney Sharman; Richard Sacks, vibraphone
Rehearsal Direction: Rosemary James
Original Lighting Design: Ron Snippe
Original Costume Design: Jane Townsend
Costume Reconstruction: Lori Endes
Dancers: Jennifer Fullerton; Brian Solomon, Elke Schroeder (March 16, 17); Brian Solomon, Linnea Wong (March 18, 19)
Crystalline strings that connect us (2000)
Choreography: Sharon Moore
Original Score: Holly Harris
Costume Design: Sharon Moore
Dancers: Marie France Forcier, Amber Kilback (March 16, 18);
Anna Finkel, Melissa Lively (March 17, 19)
This work was commissioned by Canadian composer Holly Harris for the fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists “Composer's Choice Series.”
Many thanks to Valerie Calam and Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, with whom this work was originally created and premiered.
Thank you to Emily Law. - S.M.
The Man Within (1989)
Choreography: Karen Jamieson
Music: Jeff Corness
Rehearsal Direction: Patricia Fraser
Original Costume Design: Susan Berganzi and Catherine Lubinsky
Dancers: Penny Couchie, Brian Solomon (March 16, 17);
Michael Caldwell, Kathryn Oledzki (March 18); Hailey McCloskey, Brendan Wyatt (March 19)
The Man Within was first created in 1989. It began as movement explorations with Hiromoto Ida and Byron Chief Moon. It premiered at the Vancouver Playhouse, performed by Hiromoto Ida and Catherine Lubinsky. The work investigates the potential of the weight of the body to become a metaphor for the spirit. The act of carrying the weight of another becomes, paradoxically, both a burden and a privilege. This is the first time this work has been mounted on any other than the original dancers. It has been an exhilarating and deeply moving experience for me. This extraordinary group of dancers, through their courage and commitment, have revealed to me new meaning in this work.
Thanks to The Canada Council for the Arts, Patricia Fraser, and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. - K.J.
Yang (1998/2003)
Choreography: Peggy Baker
Music: “Frisking Prolationum for 11 Percussionists,” Thierry de Mey
Rehearsal Direction: Patricia Miner
Lighting Direction: Gavin McDonald after Marc Parent
Costume Design: Lori Endes after Peggy Baker and Caroline O’Brien
Dancers: Kathryn Oledzki, Linnea Wong (March 16, 17);
Jasmin McGraw, Danielle O'Reilly (March 18, 19)
Yang is one of the two major principles of Taoist philosophy. Represented in writing by the ideogram for the sun’s rays, and in hexagrams of the I Ching as an unbroken line, yang is all that is bright, dry, hard, masculine, round, odd-numbered, and upward moving.
Yang was created for Sylvain Brochu in 1998. In 2003, the original solo was superimposed with a second reconfigured version and performed as a duet by Sylvain Brochu and Shannon Cooney. - P.B.