Heavenly Display! The Narrative Project

The Narrative Assemblage Project  and the Heavenly Display that Emerged!

In the spirit of The Dragon’s Egg, each June, we gather to celebrate a great tale or idea with playful abandon in the focused readings and surprising discoveries of The Narrative Assemblage Project. 

It works like this: Marya Ursin chooses a great work of literature and we participants – a game group of professional dancers, actors, musicians and local families, parents and children- contribute short (5 min or less) creative responses. Marya assembles our bits and pieces and threads them together with the help of players costumed from the collection of the Mystic Papers Beasts who offer the story through line.  

This June’s assignment is Ovid’s Metamorphoses. I can’t wait to see what the Dragon’s Egg tribe comes up with!   Join us Sat. afternoon June 25^th at The Dragon’s Egg.

I never would have thought to make pieces inspired by Faust, The Ramayana, The Canterbury Tales, Romeo and Juliet, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Don Quixote, Life Is a Dream among other projects but a number of them developed into works I perform including my favorite duet, Pilgrimag,e created with Clare Byrne based on Chaucer’s Wife of Bath.  

Recently Marya assigned Astrology as the seed for pieces. “Heavenly Display: Everything I Know About Astrology (A Short Dance)” emerged. I continue to evolve it. The film here is of the version performed at The Comedy In Dance Festival at Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn, NY in April 2016. A group version for 11 dancers at Manhattanville College with original music by Wall Matthews was also created last spring.  

Solo iterations have been performed for the American Dance Guild’s Bare Bones Concert honoring Frances Alenikoff and ADG’s Annual Festival honoring Liz Lerman, Doug Varone and Alice Teirstein. 

Heavenly Display

Ara Fitzgerald romps though the signs of the zodiac in the comic

‘Heavenly Display: Everything I Know About Astrology (A Short Dance)’

You don’t have to believe in it to enjoy it.  

https://vimeo.com/165572710   at the Comedy in Dance Festival

Do come join us for this June’s assignment: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Saturday afternoon at 4 pm on June 25^th at The Dragon’s Egg – a one time only performance!  though some works may go on to have further lives in other venues, reshaped or not, with the same or other performers.  Oh!  Metamorphoses! 

This entry was posted on Monday, June 6th, 2016 at 1:41 am. It is filed under Featured, News, Special Events and Performances. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.