Think of the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth: “Ta-ta-ta- duummm…” Music compositions are often built on identifiable motifs, small cells of a few notes. We might understand what makes masterful choreography by understanding how it reflects music composition. The choreographer also chooses whether they are simply telling a story or constructing a purely abstract dance based on movement alone. Even silence is its own form of music that must be considered. They can work with the sound palette or against it. Music controls the innate and subliminal impact of feeling. As a composer, who has worked with dancers and choreographers, I am biased to the position that the music is the emotional bedrock of any dance work. My premise is that dance is the interweaving of sound and visuals – usually music and the human form. Next question: What is masterful choreography? When you let go of trying to understand every word, somehow we get the gist – just as we do on the streets in the Heights. At least for those of us who live in polyglot worlds. The new bilingual translation, as performed by Ursula Tinoco and Luis Ponce, worked remarkably well. ![]() The musicians keyed into him, laying down a foundational bedrock - absolutely necessary for the success of a complex dance-theater performance. Whittaker, with his precise, authoritative, and muscular conducting style, proved his reputation as one of the most promising, emerging young conductors in the New York music scene. The music is tricky - with complex rhythmic patterns, changing in and out of odd meters. Finally, he pulled together all the creative players and forged it into a stellar production. He commissioned the translation and then weaved the two settings into a single narrative. The core concept was his – a bilingual (Spanish-English) version of the work that would reflect the linguistic reality of the streets of Washington Heights. Today, Soldat has become a staple of the repertoire, and is presented in a variety of formats – music-theater, dance, or as concert music, with or without narration.Ĭhris Whittaker pulled off his typical hat trick of juggling multiple roles simultaneously. The story has a dark Slavic ethos – in contrast to our American positive self-help philosophies that insist we should have it all. It is a parable of a Soldier, the Devil, and a Princess – their trials, triumphs, and tribulations. The storyline is distilled from Russian folktales. It also contains some of Stravinsky’s most innovative early music, exploring a mix of classical, jazz, and other popular styles, at least as he imagined it. ![]() It is a mix of narration, movement, and music. The piece was intended as a travelling cabaret act to earn money. Collaborating with librettist Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Stravinsky composed the score while he and his wife lived in exile in Switzerland during World War I. ![]() Soldat itself is an odd step-child of the Stravinsky catalogue. So much so that it made me reflect on what it is to create a masterful dance-theater production such as this. I have watched the creative team led by Chris Whittaker and Billy Smith, develop a show that is fresh, original, and in my estimation and by many others who saw the performance, masterful. I have been with this production from its inception. I am there to watch the premiere of The Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra’s (WHCO) innovative bilingual version of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat (renamed La Historia del Soldado), with original choreography by Billy Smith of the Mark Morris Dance Group. Saturday afternoon, January 19 2019, at the Fort Washington Collegiate Church.
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