Study for Les Noces (performance piece, 25 minutes, 2019)
Comissioned by LA Dance Project 2019
An adaptation of the Ballet Russes Les Noces by Igor Stravinsky, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska. The original Les Noces is composed of melancholic rituals to prepare for a wedding, with the scenes split between women and the bride and men and the bridegroom. My adaptation draws from Nijinska’s tableaus, and the performers sustain the formations until they eventually must tire and disintegrate. The work echoes Nijinskas orginal intention to present the preparation for a wedding as a traumatic rite of passage in which young women experience the pain of leaving female friendships. I merged Nijinska’s choreography with contemporary and Medeival girlhood games and text from Les Noces and Margarita Karapanou’s coming of age story, Kassandra and the Wolf.
Performed by Luciana Johnson, Gigi Todisco, Marissa Mooney, Lucinda Trask, Colleen Hendricks, Taylor Unwin, Vanessa Holyoak, Sam Blaz, Cacia LaCount, Chenui Mao, Kait McKinney, Kayla Aguila, Julienne Mackey, Kathryn Sauma, Jennifer Lacy, Lucy Kerr, and Sara Suarez