Tales of Mother Goose (Full Suite) by Maurice Ravel was choreographed as a commission by the Symphony Orchestra of Puerto Rico for Andanza, Puerto Rican Contemporary Dance Company. It was performed at the Symphony Hall in October 2022. I decided to follow Ravel's methodology, focussing more on characterisation through textural themes and moods rather than attempt to narrate the stories. As the piece was performed in front of the orchestra, the choreography was indeed expanded to synthesise the movement of the dancers with the visible corpus of the orchestra, the movement of sound as the instrument played, together with the gestures of the Maestro. The space for the performance was narrow in depth but very wide, therefore the choreographic tasks emphasised movement that generated volumes of energy in motion as opposed to structured technical vocabulary. I conceptualised the costumes in 'hanfu' style well known in combat choreography in Asian films (there is a connection between Mother Goose and Chinese Ancient stories!) where the volume of fabric expands the space of the moving body. In this way, continuing movement gave the impression of a much larger space inhabited by ten dancers. Its was all brought together by the lighting design by Luis F. Rivera.
A revised, second version of Ravel's music composed for the piano "four hands" was performed in October 2022 at the Fine Arts Centre Luis A Ferré in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Photo by Robert Villanúa (except Symphony Hall: Ana Sánchez-Colberg)
Concept and choreography: Ana Sanchez-Colberg
Costumes: Atelier Gustavo Arango after designs by Ana Sánchez-Colberg
Dancers: Natalia Fajardo, Aura Gómez, Miriam López, Cristina Lugo, Jaime Maldonado, Karlo Martínez, Adriana Morales, Alberto Rivera, Steven Rodríguez y Maru Toro.
Lighting: Luis Felipe Rivera
