murder at the masque workshop

we had our workshop today with the writer and composer of murder at the masque, by dances patrelle, justin allen and patrick soluri. it went very well and we learned a lot about edgar allan poe and how one goes about creating a "mystery ballet." justin allen, the writer, shared how he incorporated the poem the bells (which was written while poe was living in the bronx and influenced by the "bells of fordham") into the ballet along with the story "the masque of the red death," while weaving in characters from other tales. the composer, patrick soluri, talked about how he musically blended the theme of the murderer into the theme of the "red death" and illustrated it for us by playing various sections of the cd. he also mentioned that when justin handed him the story to compose from, he didn't know where to begin. he decided to start with the death scene since it was the most exciting. from there he created the characters' themes. when the music was handed to the choreographer, francis patrelle, he chose to begin work with the waltzing sequence. it was also shared that matters sometimes became confusing with how characters should be placed in relation to the crime, and thus a character had been choreographed twice into a scene. justin and patrick talked for quite awhile. you could tell they really enjoy what they do, and enjoy discussing their creative process. all of us had a great time.

afterwards, the children had their rehearsal with mrs. gates and the nyu children's chorus and then everyone went to the playground. all the mamas and papas found some shade to hide in while the children ran around. i think they played capture the flag. i liked where i sat today because i could watch them run back and forth in front of me yelling for each other, and almost hitting one mama on the head with the ball. that must have been dodge ball.

someone had the grand idea to get pops! i almost held out with a "no" but too many birdies were peeping and i had to acquiesce.