This Week at
CalArts The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance joins forces with The School of
Theater and The Herb Alpert School of Music to present the world premiere of Dice Thrown, a contemporary opera by
internationally renowned composer, John King. The performances are Friday,
April 23 and Saturday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. in CalArts’ Walt Disney Modular
Theater. The performances are free. Visit www.calarts.edu/events for reservations.
Dice Thrown is a
contemporary opera conceptualized and composed by John King. Inspired by
Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolira Le Hasard (A
Throw of the Dice will Never Abolish Chance), the opera is a new work in
each presentation--reordered according to chance. At each performance, the dice
will roll, and a new configuration of the opera's elements will be performed.
Stephan
Koplowitz, Dean of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance, choreographed
sections of Dice Thrown with six students
of CalArts’ School of Dance, MFA candidates Rachel Boyijian and Natalie
Metzger, and BFAs Michael Tomlin III, Jose Trujillo, Dozje Brown, and Micah
Savin.
The
students’ experience working on the opera has been unique and inspiring. “I’ve
enjoyed seeing the different creative elements come together. It was so
interesting to see how different creators interpreted Mallarmé’s poem,” said Boyijian, who has also been acting as Rehearsal Director.
The
sequential structuring of each performance has also been an interesting
creative and logistical challenge. Through chance operations and random number generators aspects
of the show change with each performance. Order of events change, the duration
of any given aria changes, the lighting, video, and movement all change. In a
sense, Dice Thrown is a world
premiere each and every night it is performed. “As dancers we never dance with
the same singers, or in the same space, or in the same time. There are endless
permutations of possible linear sequences. “It has been an interesting
challenge working with all of these variables,” says Boyijian.
Natalie Metzger
found working in the opera both challenging and inspiring. “Dice Thrown has been unlike any performance I have ever been
involved with. The show changes every night based on chance procedures. This
makes the performance both intellectually and physically strenuous,” said
Metzger.
Michael
Tomlin III, a second year BFA student, found the collaborative experience
inspiring. “The material is so unique. The entire process – the
way we developed the choreography from the music, interpreted the text, even the
shapes we were using in the choreography -- the whole thing was very different from what I have been
accustomed to. And, it was amazingly fun.”
Dice Thrown
opens Friday, April 23, and will be performed Saturday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m.
in CalArts’ Walt Disney Modular Theater. The performances are free. Visit www.calarts.edu/events for reservations.
For more information about the CalArts Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance, visit www.calarts.edu/dance
Don't forget to mark your calendar for our upcoming dance events.
Dice Thrown, an opera directed by John King, Friday, April 23, and Saturday, 24, 8:30 p.m. Walt Disney Modular Theater
Spring Dance Concert, Wednesday, May 5 and Friday, May 7, 8 p.m.
NEXT Dance Concert, Thursday, May 6 and Saturday, May 8, 8 p.m.
NEXT Dance Company at REDCAT, Friday, May 14 and Saturday 15, 8:30 p.m. REDCAT
Last Dance Concert, Wednesday, May 19 and Thursday, May 20, 7 p.m.
All performances take place in the Sharon Disney Lund Theater unless otherwise noted.
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