People always want to know what things mean in art. I think the questioning is part of what makes us part of the fabric of the art. If it were all spelled out for us, then how could we really be partaking in the wholeness of art? Que?? I think there’s no way to define what a real piece of art is, other than your own interpretation. So, in that vein I give you, A Dress in the Stream.   

Ok, maybe I can give you a clue, and perhaps let you go from there. Please know that this only came to me after the piece was done, not before:

A Dress in the Stream

There was doubt she would finish, but maybe not first…
Though she tried with all her heart and might…
Amidst a floating dream, her heart burst with passionate excitement…
A stream that once rippled with hope, and promise…
     was now just a memory…
Time was plenty, back when dresses were fancy, and kids played on rocks…

Thirsting for nature, she laid by the water’s edge,
     waiting for a sign from God…
She was young, and porcelain white…
A restless beauty ready to conquer the world…

Her art sought her out, and she sought her art,
     in the space between the ocean and the gravel…

She was all dressed up, with nowhere to go…
     but walked with confidence, that there would be a place for her…
even in the cold, wintry mix of snow and ice… 

She always found her crevice of peace…

Bubbling up with joy, she ecstatically danced
     into a spiraling-round of remembrance…
She was alive and free…
Her shoulders soft and her luscious, brown hair flowing…
Her fancy, pink dress held her emotions close to her body…

An incomprehensible mystery was about to unfold…
So she sat on the stone wall, by the stream, waiting for an answer…
She danced in many shoes, and swayed in the moonlight,
     gently rocking side-to-side…
          wishing and wondering…
wondering and wishing…

An infinite place of wisdom rose up within her,
     as tears welled up from the depths of her heart…

Images danced in her head and spun her into a pretty, little bow…
She tried to capture that time in her hand,
but it faded into a smoky mist…
There went her close-up, and fancy dress, and time for playing on rocks…
She felt light pouring over her, warming her soul…
In complete resolve, she watched the time go by in the stream…
     taking with it, all that rippled from her past…

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I thank Amelia Golden for being the brains behind the camera and the wizard behind the curtain. She brought her creative juices to the shoot, and carried equipment, costumes, lighting, and  lots of enthusiasm, for which I am forever grateful! We had a lot of fun editing in Starbucks! Much love and appreciation to Annie Heinemann… a beauty who knows no bounds! Enjoy this film, and let me know your thoughts as they float down the stream…

Maria Schneider is at it again!! Her new CD,“Winter Morning Walks,”  is simply sensational!! I let out an incredulous gasp after hearing this music. I can’t believe how gorgeous it is. Oh, but I really can. Why? It’s Maria!! She and the extraordinary soprano, Dawn Upshaw, had me welling up with tears in the parking lot of a grocery store, where I listened to this unprecedented CD for the first time in my car. Run, don’t walk!… to buy this important, beautifully packaged piece of art, featuring Ms. Upshaw with The Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Maria’s compositions written to  poems by Ted Kooser, and Carlos Drummond De Andrade.

To my knowledge, no one as ever tackled such an enormous feat of bringing together poetry, with two world-class Chamber Orchestras, and a virtuoso soprano. An amalgam of “must hear” music– this new album will have you memorizing musical lines, dancing in your seat, and  feeling deep emotion at your core. I know this is a hackneyed phrase, but Maria paints an emotional landscape with her scores, and lifts you into the music, sometimes gently, and sometimes with a wind gust that’ll knock you into Tuesday! You’ll see what I mean when you hear songs that sing about everything that reminds you about life in the plains, to songs that reverberate with charm and sweetness, but with a twist of psychological thrill. Dawn has a gloriously rich and buttery tone — not overdone with operatic flourish, but beautifully endearing, where your ear hears expression, not high notes, or trilly vibrato.

Maria never chooses the easy way out. Though considered a jazz composer, Maria departed from her band for this project, except for bringing along three of her regulars– geniuses in their own right — Scott Robinson, Frank Kimbrough, and Jay Anderson, to write new music for these chamber orchestras — a challenging task that she embraced with laser vision, and executed with the utmost professionalism. She’s not jazz fusion, and you cannot coin a term for her with this, other than genius at large! It’s just her blend of thought, timbre, passion, color and off-the-charts technique! Listen on track #9, “How Important It Must Be,” at 3:04, and you will hear a chord that will have the hair standing up on your arms.That’s just one example of how this music carves a deep impression into your soul.

Adams Company Dance was blessed to choreograph three works to Maria Schneider’s music from her previous albums. It’s sometimes the space between the notes that bring me to a vision for movement. In Winter Morning Walks, I am taken not only into the space between the notes, but the space of imagination with the words, the strings, the plucking of the wires of the grand piano, the swelling, the crescendos and the quiet harmonies of chords, so beautifully crafted together, it’ll remind you of a baby being put to sleep in a crib. It’s unquantifiable how good this is, and I assure you, it will leave an indelible mark on your heart! It takes my breath away! I can’t wait to get into the studio with this new CD — of course, I’ll be running to get there, not walking! Thank you for creating this great masterpiece, Maria!

Check out this quote from NPR:

“Lyrical, flowing, intimately expressive, with all the elements of words, music, voice and instruments in a seamless blend, this is music to fall in love with the first time — then immediately want to hear again.” –John Montanari, NPR (New England Public Radio)

Hollywood glamour meets modern dance, meets short-film… was this what I intended? Well, it was what happened last weekend. Put together one fine dancer, a talented filmmaker, and a choreographer– add to it a bunch of fancy dresses, props, a dance studio, and Guilford, CT’s most beautiful outdoor settings— blend it all together on high, and out comes what will be our next short dance film. Annie Church could’ve been Gloria Swanson’s stunt double in Sunset Boulevard, if she were alive then. Behind the lens, Amelia Golden captured the essence of the day with perfect timing, grace and artistry. The shoot in Guilford at the New Haven Ballet Studio, had us in rare form. I joked with Annie throughout the day, “Mr. De Mille, I’m ready for my close-up,” as images of cameo appearances from the Golden Hollywood era, danced into my mind.

With bits and pieces of a theme in tow, but nothing really set, we got down, dirty, and even messy with mud, in our attempts to capture ideas about: all dressed up with nowhere to go. The idea stemmed from conversations with artists who struggle with their art. So many polished, poised, and prepared to take the next step, only to find… there’s no next step.  Underneath it all, we are bare naked, with nothing other than ourselves. We watch as our dreams float away, and then somehow find resolve in the beauty of nature… nothing to expect other than the rippling, calm of a water in the estuary of life! Coming soon to a theater near YouTube!!

Annie in “A Dress in the Stream”

Photos by Amelia Golden

Valentine’s Day always excites me. I am sure it has more to do with the idea that Spring is right around the corner, than it does receiving a box of chocolates. I rather like the holiday, as it has all the makings of mushy romanticism, and the permission to forgive all grievances, and release all the drama of the past, and to just be in the energy of love. Oh how sweet! With that, I give you “Heart Song, ” a piece I did to celebrate the relationship of love between two people. Ryan Schmidt and James A. Pierce, III, captured my inner most thoughts of love and universal passion, in this heartfelt duet. Appropriate for Valentine’s Day?? I should say so!! See this time-honored ballet from 2011, made from the heart.