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Living Tree.
Values such as sharing and caring, generosity of spirit and strong relationships between friends and family, these are the ideas that Mr. Silverstein so eloquently and movingly portrayed in his simple little story. These are the ideas we hope to build on in our production. The Living Tree is a folk tale set in an Indian village. It is a very simple story of the relationship between a little girl and a tree. The girl finds a tree growing near her home. Sensing that the tree is a kindred spirit, she waters it faithfully. Under her loving care the tree grows large and provides shade, fruit and firewood to the villagers. But the girl's sister-in-law, annoyed that the girl shows more devotion to the tree than to her household chores, eventually persuades her husband to arrange a marriage for the girl that will take her far away. Before leaving, the girl entrusts the care of her beloved tree to her sister-in-law, not realizing that the latter has no appreciation of the tree. Before long, the tree begins to lose its leaves and wilts. Mysteriously, the girl's brother falls seriously ill at the same time. There is a drought in the village and the selfish villagers who were thriving on nature's bounty, are suddenly reduced to fighting for survival. The girl, sensing impending disaster, rushes back to her home. She sees the dying tree and runs to find water for it. Magically, the tree is revived and the brother too is restored to health. Clearly, man and nature share a common soul and each depends on the other for survival. Not only is the story engaging on many levels, it also provides a broad framework in which to create vibrant and colorful sections reflecting village life, traditions and rituals. There is a great deal of scope to create an exciting and entertaining ballet, which yet persuades the audience to reflect upon the finer points of life and living. Audiences of all ages and all backgrounds will enjoy the entertainment and also the depth and range that such a simple story provides the choreographer to express his creativity. Choreography: This theme allows for a broader range of dance styles, drama and music. The choreography will include a combination of classical and folk-dance traditions. The creation of several interesting village characters such as the matchmaker, the schoolmaster, the simpleton, the gossip, the medicine man and so on will add color and excitement to the production. This could be a village set anywhere in India. The sections will be connected with interludes that depict the seasons, which in turn reflect the essence and mood of each section. Music: Music will be a subtle and melodious combination of Indian classical and folk (north and south Indian) music as well as appropriate western classical and folk themes. Rhythm and percussion will be important and integral parts of this production. The audience will find that village sights and sounds will be greatly enhanced by the use of a variety of instruments. The music will be primarily instrumental with a few vocals and fewer lyrics. As this production would be most effective with several instruments, we intend to have the music recorded. A small live orchestra will be unable to provide the audience with the range of sounds and styles that this production needs. And, traveling with a large orchestra will perforce reduce the number of dancers significantly. Also, this production is a visual feast. Recording the music using a large orchestra will make this particular presentation larger in scope and thus more exciting and entertaining. Narration: The production will have an English narrator - not a story teller, but someone who expresses the essence of this production, the soul, for that is what we intend this production to have, a soul. This element of drama and verbal expression of feelings and emotions, combined with expansive music and expressive dancing will engage the audience completely and we hope that they will be drawn into the village and its life itself. Costumes and Sets: These will naturally be designed to portray the village, faithfully. We are in the process of choosing the designers who will best create the effects we need and the colors that would be most appropriate for the various sections. Sets will be creative and relatively easy to set up, keeping in mind that this is a traveling show. The Choreographer: G. Narendra is well known to American audiences. He is a brilliant dancer, trained at Kalakshetra and is now making a name for himself in India as an extremely sensitive and creative choreographer. In fact, the highest compliment that can be paid to him is that even masters like the Dhananjayans ask him to choreograph sections for them and his peers go to him to have their items choreographed. He has had a great deal of experience in working in group productions and also working with American dance companies, such as Ohio Ballet- he was Sher Khan in our collaborative production, Jungle Book . His training at Kalakshetra has made him well versed in both classical and folk dance forms. Music Director: V.S. Narasimhan is a very well known Western classical musician in Chennai and is also trained in Indian classical music, both south and north Indian. He is part of a string quartet and is their lead violinist. He has, for several years worked with music director Ilayaraja and with A.R.Rehman. He is a much sought after recording artist. He is a very sensitive musician and clearly understands the music that is required to make this production especially entertaining and exciting. The production will likely include 14 dancers - an equal number of male and female dancers. We have selected highly experienced and skilled dancers who can readily move from one dance form to another. Most of them have toured extensively in the U.S. and will bring great depth and skill to this production. Among them are Mahalakshmi, Joy, Thiruchelvam, Krishnakshi Sharma, Pradeesh, Unnikrishnan, Deepa Narayanan, Anusha Natarajan and, of course, Narendra. CCA has always worked toward bringing to American audiences, productions that are well planned and executed, aesthetically pleasing, well choreographed and excellently performed. We can assure you that the same high standards that were apparent in Jaya Jaya Devi, Jungle Book and Abhyaasa will be applied to this production. Each production has been unique in its own way and Living Tree will certainly be a very special and exciting presentation. | ||||||
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