CARMINA BURANA: Movement to match the music
By Eva Kahn
Carmina Burana is no exercise in easy listening. The curtain typically rises on two full choirs, including a boys’ choir, and a full orchestra. As if the stage wasn’t crowded enough, the composer Carl Orff originally intended this cantata to be performed with dance and theatrical elements.
In the fall of 2005, Ballet Austin’s artistic director, Stephen Mills, decided to take on this challenge and choreograph the ballet CARMINA BURANA and fully realize Orff’s vision for a mash-up of music, song, and dance. Mills’ production features 62 musicians from the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Austin’s full professional company of 22 dancers, and 115 GRAMMY® Award-winning voices from the Conspirare Symphonic Choir, directed by Craig Hella Johnson.
What follows are excerpts from a conversation with Mills about his decision to create this massive work of art and the creative process behind it.
Click here to learn more about the history behind the music.
What was your first encounter with the music of Carmina Burana and why did you decide to choreograph to it?
MILLS: I had always known this music. It’s probably the most recognizable piece of music. And I had always wanted to work with Craig Hella Johnson at Conspirare — and it seemed like the opportune time.
I had only seen one other work choreographed to this piece of music by the wonderfully creative and renowned John Butler*, but I’d never danced it. I felt that because I didn’t have that kind of experience with the work already, it would be the perfect vehicle for me to make a dance to.
*John Butler, a versatile 20th century dancer and choreographer, created a version of Carmina Burana in 1959 that exemplified his background in both classical ballet and the Martha Graham technique.
What do you find most striking about Carmina Burana? How can we see that in your choreography?
MILLS: The music started as a very old manuscript that included ancient languages that aren’t spoken anymore. The medieval versions of Latin, German, and French are all combined together, making it very interesting.
When people come to see CARMINA BURANA, what they think they are going to see is a classical ballet — meaning that the underlying current of the movement is classical in style, such as the women standing on pointe, and traditional forms of partnering with the man escorting or dancing with the woman. These are easily recognizable in classical dance.
The thing that makes Ballet Austin’s CARMINA BURANA a contemporary ballet is the ways in which we subvert those ideals. For instance, the use of non-traditional grips (in partnering) or the way the man lifts or turns the woman might be different. There might be some unusual uses of the legs, which aren’t always turned out. There’re certainly no tutus in this ballet: the women are in leotards and the men are in leotards as well. It’s very exposed in that way. I really use the style that we work on here, which is ballet-based but brought into a contemporary fashion, so we build our own vocabulary.
It’s not modern dance at all, but it’s not really classical dance either, it’s this hybridization. It sits somewhere comfortably between a classical ballet and a contemporary ballet.
Although the story behind Carmina Burana is captivating, the music itself is plotless. Without a narrative, how do you create direction and momentum in the ballet?
Carmina Burana (the score) begins with a piece of music called “O Fortuna” and it closes with “O Fortuna.” In between, it’s divided into these particular areas, such as the romance of springtime and a scene in a bar. It’s the constant changing of dynamic and rhythm that makes this hour-length piece of music so compelling.
I designated the dance in that way as well — three or four mini dances that are put together with these two bookends.
Carmina Burana doesn’t necessarily follow a narrative, which for some people can feel a little distancing. But I think that in all art, especially abstract painting, there is no narrative and people enjoy it very much. Someone once asked George Balanchine*, “What’s the ballet about?” and he said, “The man offers his hand. The woman takes the hand. That’s a story.”
And I think that’s pretty much the way I approach these non-narrative works: people dancing together, that already is a story.
*The 20th century choreographer George Balanchine single-handedly created the neoclassical aesthetic of ballet with his revolutionary “plotless ballets” performed in simple leotards.
Can you describe what it’s like to witness this monumental production from the audience?
MILLS: I think one of the most compelling parts about this production of CARMINA BURANA is that when the curtain goes up, nothing is hidden from the audience. The orchestra is in the pit, the complete company of dancers is on the stage, and behind the dancers is the full choir of more than 100 singers, including three soloists. The grandeur of the production is evidenced in that one image.
The vibration of those voices surrounding your body, it’s an amazing thing. You get the sense that the dancers feel that human power coming through their bodies on its way out toward the audience.
It’s a unique opportunity to see dance and also hear the music of a symphony and of a choir all simultaneously. The synthesis of all those art forms coming together is really unique to this particular ballet.
Stay tuned! Next week, hear from Ballet Austin’s Maestro Peter Bay on Carmina Burana’ colossal score.
BALLET AUSTIN in CARMINA BURANA
Featuring the GRAMMY® Award-winning Conspirare Symphony Choir
With live music by the Austin Symphony Orchestra
FOUR SHOWS ONLY — Sept. 20–22
The Long Center
Tickets starting at $15 at balletaustin.org
