Orpheus Reimagined

Centennial Park Conservancy and Friends of Metro Dance are thrilled to present the new work Orpheus Reimagined as part of the 2022 ECHO Chamber Music Series. Tonight’s performers, Duncan Dance South and Portara Ensemble, have collaborated to create an evening-length work retelling the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice for the unique space of Nashville’s Parthenon. Isadora Duncan, an early 20th century modern dance pioneer, created many dance works using Greek mythology as inspiration and famously danced at the original Parthenon in Greece. Her trailblazing and rebellious spirit will be embodied by the dancers, and reflected in the magnificence of the 42’ Athena statue behind them, as they perform classically reconstructed Duncan works as well as newly created pieces in her style. Portara Ensemble will provide live musical accompaniment, taking advantage of the unique sound qualities of the Parthenon, a hallmark of the ECHO series. 
Concept: Meg Brooker (Duncan Dance South) & Jason Shelton (Portara Ensemble)
Choreography: Meg Brooker* & Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)
Music: Portara Ensemble & Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dancers: Aaron Allen, Jr. (Orpheus), Meg Brooker (Eurydice), Savannah Cook (Orpheus Chorus), Kadie Cooper (Eurydice Chorus), Tarrisha Hicks (Eurydice Chorus), Austin Kraft (Orpheus Chorus), Melissa Miller (Eurydice Chorus), Jess Ortega (Orpheus Chorus)
Singers: Soprano: Karen Ballew, Amy Darrow, Johanna Gomez, Lauren Herring, Elizabeth Miller, Jane Mondul, Emily Ritter, Erika Taylor. Alto: Elaine Bailey, Sara Chang, Meredith DiMenna, Leigh Ferro, Alana Griffith, Elizabeth Grossman, Ericka Gundlach, Lea Maitlen. Tenor: Dana Purser Gary, Greg Gunther, Joel Herbert, Jared Morrison, Matthew Pyles, Jeff Smith, Destin Weishaar**. Bass: Dee Benn, Matthew Charlton**, Patrick Dunnevant, Fernando Castro, Jordan Holland**, Danny Rhodes, Jordan Simpkins**
 
*The new choreography on this program was created by Meg Brooker with the 2020 cast of dancers, including Aaron Allen, Savannah Cook, McKay House, Austin Kraft, Valkyrie Rutledge, Jade Treadwell, and Laurel Walker. Meg Brooker has received coaching in the original Isadora Duncan dances on the program from Lori Belilove, Valerie Durham, Barbara Kane, Cherlyn Smith, and Jennifer Sprowl. More information on Isadora Duncan’s repertory can be found at www.isadoraduncanarchive.org.
**Portara board member
~
Act I: Orpheus Reimagined is an evening-length work retelling the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, accompanied by choral music from Portara Ensemble and selections of original Isadora Duncan choreographies from the Orfeo ed Euridice and Iphigenia operas composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck and arranged by Felix Mottl. This tragic love story opens with the joyous celebration of the union of Orpheus and Eurydice, followed by a romantic duet that ends too soon when Eurydice is stung by a serpent and dies an early death. Orpheus grieves, and is consoled by the Orpheus chorus. Eurydice is swept into the underworld by the Eurydice chorus, and they echo Orpheus’s grief at the separation and dance Isadora Duncan’s Priestess dance as a ritual to bring Eurydice into the underworld. The first act ends with Orpheus playing haunting and melancholy music as he searches for his lost love.
​
Air Gai
Choreography: Isadora Duncan
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dancers: Orpheus and Eurydice choruses
 
Amor de mi Alma/Mordida Mortal
Choreography: Meg Brooker, with dancers
Dancers: Orpheus (Aaron Allen), Eurydice (Meg Brooker)
Music: Portara Ensemble
Mordida Mortal Vocal Quartet: Lauren Herring, Sara Chang, Matthew Pyles, Patrick Dunnevant
 
"Amor de mi alma"
Music: Z. Randall Stroope (b. 1953)
Words: Garcilaso de la Vega (1503-1536)
 
English translation:
I was born to love only you;
My soul has formed you to its measure;
I want you as a garment for my soul.
 
Your very image is written on my soul;
 Such indescribable intimacy
I hide even from you.
 
All that I have, I owe to you;
For you I was born, for you I live,
For you I must die, and for you
I give my last breath
 
"Mordida mortal"
Music: Patrick Dunnevant (b. 1989)
Words: Jason Shelton (b. 1972)
Spanish Translation: Elias Salazar
 
The patient serpent waits in the tall grass
With kiss of death in its deadly bite
  
O Vos Omnes
Choreography: Meg Brooker, with dancers
Dancers: Eurydice chorus
Music: Portara Ensemble
Vocal soloists: Jane Mondul, Leigh Ferro
 
Music: David Childs (b. 1968)
Words: Lamentations of Jeremiah
 
English translation:
O all you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see:
if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.
Pay attention, all people, and look at my sorrow:
if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.
 
Lento
Choreography: Isadora Duncan
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dancers: Orpheus chorus
 
Come, Sweet Death
Choreography: Meg Brooker, with dancers
Dancers: Orpheus chorus, Eurydice chorus
Music: Portara Ensemble
 
Music: J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Words: anonymous
 
Come, sweet death
Come, blessed rest
Come and lead me to peace
For I am weary of this world
Oh come, I wait for you
Come soon and take me
Touch my eyes and gently close them
Come, blessed rest
 
Priestess
Choreography: Isadora Duncan
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dancers: Eurydice chorus
 
The Lamp of Life
Choreography: Meg Brooker, with dancers
Dancers: Eurydice chorus, Orpheus (Aaron Allen)
Music: Portara Ensemble
Vocal Soloists: Lea Maitlen, Greg Gunther, Amy Darrow
 
Music: Jason Shelton (b. 1972)
Words: Amy Lowell (1874-1925)
 
Always we are following a light,
Always the light recedes; with groping hands
We stretch toward this glory, while the lands
We journey through are hidden from our sight
Dim and mysterious, folded deep in night,
We care not, all our utmost need demands
Is but the light, the light! So still it stands
Surely our own if we exert our might.
Fool! Never can'st thou grasp this fleeting gleam,
Its glowing flame would die if it were caught,
Its value is that it doth always seem
But just a little farther on. Distraught,
But lighted ever onward, we are brought
Upon our way unknowing, in a dream.
 ~
Act II: The second act opens with Isadora Duncan’s Cherubim, danced by the Orpheus chorus, as they lead the way for Orpheus to enter the underworld, followed by the Furies, with Eurydice in the solo role. Orpheus watches, unseen, from the shadows as Eurydice is pulled into the group dance. Orpheus wanders through the realm of the Furies to find his chorus and dance a plea to Hades and Persephone to return Eurydice to life. Hades and Persephone are moved by his plea and by his beautiful music and agree to let Eurydice return, as long as he does not look back at her while they are exiting the underworld. Eurydice enters in the solo role for Isadora Duncan’s Blessed Spirits, and is joined by both the Eurydice and Orpheus choruses. The Orpheus chorus points the way out to Orpheus, as the Eurydice chorus enters, veiled to follow him to the light. Tragically, Orpheus turns to look, and the Eurydices are unveiled, lifeless, and forever lost to the underworld.
Cherubim
Choreography: Isadora Duncan
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dancers: Orpheus chorus
 
Furies
Choreography: Isadora Duncan
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dancers: Eurydice (Meg Brooker), with Eurydice chorus
 
Long Time Trav'ling
Choreography: Meg Brooker, with dancers
Dancers: Orpheus (Aaron Allen), with Orpheus chorus
Music: Portara Ensemble
Vocal Soloists: Patrick Dunnevant, Jordan Simpkins
Vocal Quartet: Elizabeth Grossman, Ericka Gundlach, Jared Morrison, Danny Rhodes
 
Music: Abbie Betinis
Words: hymns from the Sacred Harp
 
Farewell, my friends, I'm bound for Canaan,
I'm trav'ling through the wilderness;
Your company has been delightful,
You, who doth leave my mind distressed.

I go away, behind to leave you,
Perhaps never to meet again,
But if we never have the pleasure,
I hope we'll meet on Canaan's land.
- "Parting Friends" (traditional tune and lyrics)

I'm a long time trav'ling here below,
I'm a long time trav'ling away from home,
I'm a long time trav'ling here below,
To lay this body down.

Farewell, my friends, whose tender care
Has long engaged my love;
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For land I know not of...
- "White" (tune by Edgar Dumas 1856; lyrics from Dobell's New Selection 1810; revised A. Betinis)
 
Farewell, my friends, both old and young,
I hope in peace you'll still go on;
How oft I've seen your flowing tears,
And heard you tell your hopes and fears!

Your hearts with love were seen to flame,
Which makes me hope we'll meet again.
Ye mourning souls, lift up your eyes
And live in love, for love's alive.
- "Parting Hand" (lyrics by John Blain 1818, edited and revised by A. Betinis)
 
Blessed Spirits
Choreography: Isadora Duncan
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dancers: Eurydice (Meg Brooker), with Eurydice and Orpheus choruses
 
Flower of Beauty
Choreography: Meg Brooker, with dancers
Music: Portara Ensemble
Dancers: Eurydice and Orpheus choruses
 
Music: John Clements (1910-1986)
Words: Sydney Bell
 
She is my slender small love, my flow'r of beauty fair
From the whiteness of her little feet to the shining of her hair;
More fair she is than April rain on daffodil or tree:
She is my slender small love, my flow'r of beauty, she.
 
I know she walks in the evening down by the riverside,
And the grasses lean to kiss her robes who soon will be my bride:
More dear to me her little head than earth or sky or sea!
She is my slender small love, my flow'r of beauty, she.
 
Laboravi in Gemitu Meo
Choreography: Meg Brooker, with dancers
Dancers: Eurydice and Orpheus choruses
Music: Portara Ensemble
 
Music: Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613)
Words: Psalm 6:7
 
I am weary of my groaning; every night I wash my bed
and water my couch with my tears.
~ ​
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
 
Duncan Dance South is a regional dance company focused on preserving and passing on the works of early modern dance artists Isadora Duncan and Florence Fleming Noyes, and on creating new works rooted in these early modern dance techniques. Artistic Director Meg Brooker is a direct-lineage Isadora Duncan dancer with an international performance background that includes gardens, galleries, museums and theatres across Russia, Greece, Italy, and the United States. Meg regularly collaborates with musicians and visual artists, and is thrilled to share this program with Portara Ensemble. www.duncandancesouth.org 
 
Aaron Allen, Jr. (Orpheus) is a Contemporary Dance artist from Chattanooga, Tennessee whose research and choreographic practices are driven by African Diasporic forms and personal experiences centered around identity and safety. Aaron holds a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Dance Performance from Middle Tennessee State University, as well as a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Colorado Boulder. Creating safe spaces for movers to be themselves has been a constant guide in his technique classes and choreographic works. Aaron has performed in numerous cities, Shanghai, China, Chicago, Illinois, Washington, D.C., Oberlin, Ohio, and Tallahassee, Florida. Most recently Aaron performed at Super Bowl 55 with the artist the weeknd in Tampa, Florida. Aaron is currently a full-time professor of Dance at Middle Tennessee State University.
 
Meg Brooker (Eurydice) is Artistic Director of Duncan Dance South and Associate Professor and Director of Dance at Middle Tennessee State University. She is a founder and steering committee member of the Isadora Duncan International Symposium; chair of the Isadora Duncan Archive Committee; and a former member of Lori Belilove & Company, Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation, NYC. She serves as Dance Chair for the Hellenic Institute of Cultural Diplomacy and as Dancer Laureate 2021-2022 for the City of Murfreesboro, TN. As a Duncan dancer, Meg has performed in multiple national and international venues in Russia, Greece, Italy and across the United States. In Tennessee, Meg has appeared with Duncan Dance South at the Parthenon in Centennial Park, Nashville (2018), and at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga (2019, 2020, 2021). Meg has taught workshops and shared her early modern dance scholarship through the National Dance Education Organization, Society of Dance History Scholars, Congress on Research in Dance, Dance Studies Association, and Women in Dance Leadership. In 2016, she was awarded a NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for her work with the Noyes School of Rhythm Foundation Archives. Meg holds an MFA from The University of Texas at Austin and a BA from Yale.
 
Savannah Cook (Orpheus Chorus) earned a B.S. in Dance at Middle Tennessee State University, where she performed as a dancer with MTSU Dance Theatre. In the summer of 2019, she was chosen to go to Moscow to perform and take classes at The People’s Friendship University of Russia. While at MTSU, she performed in faculty and guest artist works, including a piece by Colleen Barnes, Artistic Director of Joffrey South and one by Katherine Duke, Artistic Director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. She has danced with Duncan Dance South at the Parthenon (2018), at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga (2021), and in Murfreesboro’s City Hall (2021). Prior to MTSU, she attended Tennessee's Governor School of the Arts for dance and trained at Barfield School of Dance. In 2021, Savannah directed the first fully produced Nutcracker in Murfreesboro, TN that was performed with a live orchestra.
 
Kadie Cooper (Eurydice Chorus) graduated with her B.S. in Dance from Middle Tennessee State University, where she performed with MTSU Dance Theatre in faculty and guest artist works, including works by choreographers Will Gill, Rebecca Steinberg, Daniel Gwirtzman, and Matt Pardo. Prior to MTSU, she trained at Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts and with Chattanooga Ballet. Kadie has performed with Duncan Dance South at the Hunter Museum of American Art (2019, 2021), at the Discovery Center of Murfreesboro, and on Civic Plaza in Murfreesboro. In 2018, she danced Meg Brooker’s choreography Thel for the American College Dance Association Southeast Regional Gala concert. In summer 2021, she attended the Noyes School of Rhythm summer program in Portland, CT, and performed Noyes works at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum in New Bedford, MA.
 
Tarrisha Hicks (Eurydice Chorus) graduated from Middle Tennessee State University, where she performed with MTSU Dance Theatre and worked with guest artists including T. Lang. While at MTSU, she danced Meg Brooker’s choreography Cassandra for the American College Dance Association South Regional Gala concert and traveled to perform Isadora Duncan works for the first Women in Dance Leadership Conference. Prior to attending MTSU, she trained at Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts and with Ballet Tennessee. She is currently dancing with The Pop-up Project in Chattanooga, recently performing as one of the Julietas in Romeo y Julieta. In 2016, she was awarded the Tennessee Association of Dance Cathie Ault Kasch award for choreography. Tarrisha is also active in the music industry and with film production.
 
Austin Kraft (Orpheus Chorus) earned a B.S. in Dance at Middle Tennessee State University, where he performed as a dancer with MTSU Dance Theatre and worked with guest artists including Will Gill and Rebecca Steinberg. He began formal dance training in the fall of 2017 and danced with MTSU Dance Theatre for four semesters. He also minored in nutrition and enjoys the visual arts and literature. Other dance experiences include attending intensives with staibdance in Italy and Atlanta and a study abroad program in Guatemala, where he taught and performed in an interactive dance and theatre show. In summer 2021, he attended the Noyes School of Rhythm summer program in Portland, CT. Austin is currently taking classes at Nashville Ballet, taking private lessons with Meredith Combs, and performing with Duncan Dance South in venues including the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga.
 
Melissa Miller (Eurydice Chorus) received her dance training at The American Academy of Dance in Paris under Meredith Hudson and at Le Centre Internationale de Danse Rick Odums in Paris, France. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Modern Dance from Belhaven University, and received additional training in New York City from The Jose Limon Dance Foundation as part of their Professional Studies Program. In New York, she performed with the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation under Lori Belilove as an apprentice company member, Live Arts by Nancy L'Heritier, Community Dance Project NYC, and The Physical Plant under Karesia Batan. Since moving to Chattanooga she has worked as a choreographer, performer, and teacher for several local organizations including The Chattanooga Dance Theatre, Girls Preparatory School, Ballet Esprit, Alicia’s All Stars, Duncan Dance South, Chattanooga Ballet, and First Things First. She has performed original work as a featured artist at The Hunter Museum of American Art, The Road, Abandoned Arts Festival, The Future is Female event, Bridges Refugee Services benefit event, and at the Tennessee Arts Collective event “Women in History.” She is currently in pursuit of her Masters in Dance from Hollins University. 
 
Jess Ortega (Orpheus Chorus) holds a bachelor's degree in dance from Middle Tennessee State University. During her time at MTSU, she trained extensively in ballet and modern dance and worked with artists Silva Laukkanen, Matt Pardo, Colleen Bartley, and Meg Brooker. Upon graduation, she began working with Duncan Dance South, continuing training in the Duncan technique and performing in various events in the Murfreesboro area. Jess also works with The Pop-up Project in Chattanooga, Tennessee- a mixed genres dance company. With Pop-up, she has been involved in immersive events such as the Summer Concert Series and Romeo y Julieta. This summer, she is looking forward to interning and continuing her somatic education with the Noyes School of Rhythm in Connecticut.
 
Portara Ensemble is a 32-voice chamber choir that has established itself as a creative force in the Middle Tennessee music scene. Our innovative programming and artistic collaborations have crossed the boundaries of the visual and performing arts, and our community partnerships have had a direct impact on the mission and visibility of Nashville’s non-profit community. Led by Artistic Director Jason Shelton, Portara Ensemble’s thought-provoking thematic choral programs explore a wide variety of music from around the globe, and the Ensemble can often be found playing a supportive role in a local recording studio or in the national TV spotlight. We are thrilled to be realizing the dream of Orpheus Reimagined after a two-year, pandemic-imposed hiatus on choral activities. We're grateful to our partners, Duncan Dance South, and our sponsors, Centennial Park Conservancy and Friends of Metro Dance, for this incredible opportunity. www.portaraensemble.com

Jason Shelton, Artistic Director
Patrick Dunnevant, Assistant Director
Kelley Ferguson, Operations Manager
Horacio Guendulain, rehearsal accompanist
  
Board of Directors: Jordan Simpkins (chair), Matthew Charlton, Christina Egan, Jordan Holland, Josh Post, Mary Scheib, Destin Weishaar