Selected scenes from The François Vase

The Breakup

(From the program notes) No sooner has Theseus killed Ariadne’s half brother and whisked her off towards the sunset, than he abandons her on the island of Naxos and sails away. Act IV imagines the breakup as an ancient curse that dooms its victims to relive the worst moments of their relationship and destroys even the happy memories.

The screen is divided into three layers, recalling the visual and narrative polyphony of the registers that adorn the original François Vase. The rising melodic line that ended Act II now falls down upon itself, over and over again, in a polyrhythmic texture.

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The Vase Shattering

(From the program notes) Appearing in this act as themselves, Green Chair Dance Group reenact the shattering of the Greek vase at the hands of a museum employee. The dancers are seen moving slowly, in real time. The music for Act V revisits the theme of fragmentation. Translucent harmonies move in and out of focus and eventually, quietly, shatter.