Still Waiting... & Carmina Burana

So, we are almost one week overdue for the appearance of Baby #2. We have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and if Kayla makes it that long, we'll schedule to induce on Wednesday or Thursday... This is all very reminiscent of Regan's birth. Kayla was late with Regan as well, so we scheduled another doctor's appointment for the following week. Only, Regan came before then.

I don't know what will happen with this one!

Last night, I got the immeasurable pleasure of attending WTAMU's performance of Carmina Burana. Earlier this semester, I had caught word that there was going to be a full performance of this work including orchestra, double chorus (w/ boys choir), vocal soloists (S/T/Baritone) and dance, as well as lighting and staging. Not knowing when this production was set, I emailed the conductor and asked. That was on Tuesday! I'm glad I didn't wait another minute, or I might have missed the whole thing entirely.

If you aren't sure what Carmina Burana is, you should look here for some very good background info.

I wasn't sure what to expect as far as the dance and choreography was concerned. Afterall, I've performed this piece as a band transcription and I have a pretty shoddy "bargain bin" recording of the full instrumentation, but I had never seen a production. Apparently, the production I saw last night (with dance) is pretty much the way Carl Orff had intended for Carmina to be performed.

Given all of that, I took my seat, read through the program a few times, then watched as the curtain went up and the music began. Immediately, with those fateful opening notes of full chorus at fortissimo I could tell that the dance would be intriguing and memorable. The choreography (set for 8 female dancers) opened with two dancers being held by two others as if bound in their pose. (Remember, much of Carmina deals with the uncontrollable aspect of fate.) As the bound dancers were being brought onto stage, they held red ribbon that was extended offstage to the hands of the remaining dancers.

My first thought: this is going to be really weird. Some art is weird and that's cool. Some weird art is cool and some is just uncomfortable to watch. This was undoubtedly cool! The ribbon (which was more like rope) was well utilized in that it, to me, furthered the representation of binding. At times the dancers were bound by it and at other times they freed themselves from it.

While dance was not featured on all of the 25 movements of the work, it was still prominent in at least half.

Since Carmina Burana deals with some aspects of love and sensuality, the dance was properly representative of that (without being over-the-top or provocative). And there are even discussions of heavy drinking that occurs in the local tavern. It was really humorous to see the dancers become increasingly "intoxicated," then pass out at the end of the movement!

Having now seen this for real, I cannot believe that a production of this without dance would ever quite do the work a full justice. Needless to say, the orchestra was in rare form and the chorus was spectacular, but for me, the choreography and dance completed the production in my mind.

Bravissimo!