Recollections of Isadora Duncan
Teatro Nazionale, Rome, January 25, 2003

The second ballet of the Rome Opera season was Ricordo di Isadora Duncan, choreographed by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer to music by Beethoven, Grieg, Degeyter-Toscanini, Scriabin and Schubert, with Carla Fracci in the title role. Duncan’s dances were combined with Apollon Déco, by Luc Bouy with music by Satie, featuring Anjella Kouznetsova, Tiziana Lauri and Manuel Paruccini.

This ballet, originally conceived for schools, has had great success in past years ― at least at the box office. This year Hodson created a new solo for Fracci (set to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 8, “Pathétique”). Now, after many revisions, the ballet is finally finished.

The didactic intent of this short (barely one hour long) ballet is evident. Two actors ― Sergio Nicolai as The Poet and Cosimo Manicone as The Student, read out excerpts concerning Duncan from Alberto Savinio’s book Narrate, uomini, la vostra storia (Tell, men, your story). (Savinio [1891-1952], writer, painter, musician and playwright, and the brother of the painter Giorgio De Chirico, was one of the major Italian literary figures of the 20th century). Each excerpt is followed by a danced narration of the event. The amusing Charleston-style Apollon Déco recreated the period in which Isadora lived.

Fracci is costumed in Duncan’s style ― white tunic and sandals, and a long red scarf which accompanies her throughout the reenactment of her life. The steps recreate Duncan’s neoclassical style, and the tone is sometimes serene and sometimes quite sad, as when the tragic death of Isadora’s children is recalled. It’s in these dramatic moments that Fracci shows her great qualities as a tragedienne.

The full house was quite happy with the performance.

<small>[ 07 August 2004, 03:52 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Press Release

"THEOGONIES" - DANCES WITH SCULPTURES

Performances: 7.30 Sat 25 Sun 26 Mon 27 Sept 2004 Tickets: £12 concessions £10
HELLENIC CENTRE 16-18 Paddington Street London W1M 4AS 020 7487 5060

Backstage with the Kirov Ballet in St Petersburg is an unlikely place to find an American choreographer and artist. There, in the Mariinsky Theatre where the ghosts of Diaghilev, Nijinsky and Roerich permeate the atmosphere sits Millicent Hodson, an elegant lady from San Francisco. She is busy drawing movements and costumes for the dancers she is rehearsing for Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, with scenic consultant Kenneth Archer.

When she returns home to London, Gallery K in Hampstead exhibits the drawings, which are snapped up by a growing band of avid collectors. Millicent Hodson’s work, encompassing art and dance, is truly international, leaping across stages from New York to Stockholm, Paris, Rome and London’s Royal Opera House.

On completion of this year’s travel schedule, Millicent will create a sequence of dances in response to a group of sculptures by George Kyriakou. This time she will not only choreograph the dances and collaborate on the costume design, she will also perform.

The performance directed by Kenneth Archer, is one of Gallery K’s unique cultural events, organised in conjunction with the Hellenic Centre. The title Theogonies derives from a series of sculptures, which Kyriacou describes as the creation and geometry of the gods, their angle, their point of view.

The orbit of each dance is one of the seven sculptures in the performance space, enigmatic figures representing iconic women from history and mythology, such as Cleopatra and Isis. Millicent’s written texts and drawings of the characters are the basis of the narration and choreography. Her drawings and the sculptures will be exhibited at the Hellenic Centre.

“The dances project the inner world of the women, their spiritual perspective” explains Millicent “I incorporate masks and weapons emblematic of that spirit – contemplative or combative – to transport myself into their space and enter into their aura. The performance will be the meeting point of language, image and movement.”

The dances are a symbiosis of Millicent’s choreography and graphic images with Kyriacou’s organic forms. While her drawings recall the energy and colour of the Ballets Russes, his sculptures echo the Greek Geometric Period: the birth of Western Art.

music:Eleni Karaindrou costumes:Phil Reynolds, Nicola Kileen lighting:Julia Smith sound:Simon Harvey& Ibrahim Kazandjian narration:Marina Koem masks:Robert Allsopp weapons:George Kyriacou veils:Eleni Kyriacou wigs: Matt George

<small>[ 07 August 2004, 03:53 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>