March 19, 2009
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Greek-Scottish-Ballet-Tragedy-Chorus-Thing
I figure that if I can type this out before tomorrow, along with the choreography, maybe I can remember the damned thing.
Strophe 1 (Cassie’s Group, we stand at Greek attention and watch)
“The Delphic stone of prophecies
(The Delphic stone of prophecies)
Remembers ancient regicide
(Remembers ancient regicide)
And a still bloody hand.
The killer’s hour of flight has come.
He must be stronger than riderless
Coursers of untiring wind,
For the son of Zeus armed with his father’s thunder (Thunder!)
Leaps in Lightning (Lightning!) after him;
And the Furies follow him, the sad Furies.Antistrophe 1 (Us, Lined up Dallas, Keshia, Me, Ayaka, and Lisha, Dallas speaks, the rest of us are turned left side to the audience, looking down at the floor)
“Holy Parnassos’ peak of snow
(Dallas gestures with both arms, causing Keshia to left arm fall, arabesque, turn body to right, and step into place. The rest of us follow in ripple.)
Flashes and blinds that secret man
(The four of us step right towards Dallas, right arm up, speaking this line in unison after Lisha finishes her arabesque)
That all shall hunt him down
(Dallas turns and marches stage left, we take a step backwards with our left feet as he passes us)
Though he may roam the forest shade
(Dallas turns to us, sweeps his right arm out on the word “roam”, and we scatter, looking scared)
Like a bull gone wild from pasture
To rage through glooms of stone
(Dallas starts trilling like Sean Connery, getting very loud and impassioned. On the word “Stone”, Keshia, I, Ayaka, and Lisha step towards him, one after the other, saying the word “stone” loudly.)
Doom comes down on him, flight will not avail him;
(On the word “flight”, Dallas crouches down slightly, the four of us touch his back and walk backwards with him, as if dragging him with su.)
For the world’s heart calls him desolate,
And the immortal Furies follow, for ever follow.
(Dallas, Ayaka, Lisha, and I are still in position, Keshia steps out towards the audience and finishes these two lines)Strophe 2 (Cassies group again)
But now a wilder thing is heard
From the old man skilled at hearing Fate in the wingbeat of a bird.
Bewildered as a blown bird, my soul hovers and can not find
Foothold in this debate, or any reason or rest of mind.
But no man ever brought – none can bring
Proof of strife between Thebe’s royal house,
Labdakos’ line, and the son of Polybos;
And never until now has any man brought word
Of Laios’ dark death staining Oedipus the King.Antistrophe 2 (We are all still in the same position)
Divine Zeus and Apollo hold
(Keshia turns stage left, looks up, and raises her left hand in turn. We repeat her words and actions)
Perfect intelligence alone of all tales ever told;
(The four of us walk forward, towards Keshia, chanting this line in unison)
And well though this diviner works, he works in his own night;
(I step forward, turn my head stage left, sweep my left arm out from the elbow, and gesture towards Ayaka)
No man can judge tha rough unknown or trust in second sight,
(Dallas steps forward, grabs my arm, pushes it down, I step back, and the girls get in a semi-circle)
For wisdom changes hands among the wise.
(The four girls raise the pitch of our voices to creepy girlwitch tones, put our right hand in the center follow through up and behind, our gazes following our hands)
Shall I believe my great lord criminal
(Lisha crouches down under Dallas’s left elbow)
At a raging word that a blind old man let fall?
(Keshia steps forward)
I saw him, when the carrion woman faced him of old,
(Dallas, Ayaka, and I look up, raise our right arms in the direction of our gaze)
Prove his heroic mind! These evil words are lies.
(Dallas goes Sean Connery on us again, Keshia, Lisha, Ayaka, and I gather back into the semicircle, and chant “evil words are lies” three times, each time dipping a bit lower at the middle until we are in ragdoll pose at the end of the third chant)
