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>SOLOS AVAILABLE FOR STAGING
Sokolow,
Anna
Ballade
(1965). Excerpts.
Music: Alexander
Scriabin
Notation: 1974-1978, score checked, inked and tested through
a restaging
Costumes: Constructed dresses for women, shirt and trousers for
men.
Consultancy: Required
Ballade came upon the dance world like a fresh spring shower. It showed
Sokolow in a poetic and lyrical mood as she choreographed scenes of
lovers playing the age old theme of youth and its discoveries. Dancers
need strong dramatic ability and must be technically advanced.
Woman's
Solo, 1:20: A woman enters expecting to meet her lover. She is alone.
What follows is a quiet dance during which she has moments of reflection
on her beauty. Finally her lover returns. (The man enters for a brief
moment only at the end of the solo).
Man's
solo, 1:50: The solo is based on images of Nijinsky, but obviously it
is not danced balletically. Some images such as the faun on his rock,
Les Orientales and Narcissus are very clear. Most of all, the solo is
danced with the animal quality associated with Nijinsky.
Dreams
(1961). Excerpts
Music: Collage
(For these two solos, music is by Teo Macero, permission and fees required.)
Notation: 1974, unchecked pencil copy used by notator for restagings.
Simple notation.
Costumes: Street clothes
Prop: Drumming solo requires a three legged stool
Consultancy: Required
For all solos, strong dramatic ability and advanced technique are required.
Dreams is Ms. Sokolow's personal indictment of Nazi Germany. It is a
despairing theatrical work that developed from personal dreams to be
shaped over the next few years by her shocking outrage at the Holocaust.
"They may have given you a number but we know your name."
Sokolow (The titles are those of the notator).
Man's
solo: ?min.: A man escaping. He has been running for hours and has his
second wind. His pursuers draw near. He hears them. He screams. He is
weak, collapses, but continues to run. Silent screams. vomiting and
breaking his bonds result in his frantic attempt to rub the numbers
off his wrist. We witness his last moments in the gas chamber.
Drummer
solo: Man's solo, ?min.: A boy, snatched from his life as a drummer
is alone in his small cell. Who knows how long he has been there? Who
knows what he does to keep his sanity? He finds two pieces of wood which
remind him of drum sticks. They slowly bring him into a frenetic dream
world where he becomes the greatest. No matter where he looks the drum
is everywhere . He reaches ecstacy. The lights black out as he tries
to recall the words of a song he once knew. (Requires a dancer who can
do a knee hinge until his head touches and come back up, all the while
holding a stool on his shoulder with which he continually dances both
on the way down and on the way up).
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Kaddish
Music:
Maurice Ravel
Length: 4 minutes, 30 seconds
Costume: Long skirt
Notation: 1974, good quality, includes effort notation
Consultancy: Required
The dance
for a woman incorporates elements of Jewish religious ceremony in this
lament over the death of a loved one.
Lyric
Suite (1953). Excerpts.
Music:
Alban Berg
Notation: 1972 (transcribed into LabanWriter in 2001), simple
notation. Has been used for restagings.
Costumes: Duncan and Kafka solos have constructed dresses for
women, shirts and trousers for men
Consultancy: Required
All solos require strong technique and dramatic ability.
Lyric Suite is the work that caused Louis Horst to remark that Sokolow
was now a choreographer. It is a seminal work in which she found her
unique movement vocabularly. When Sokolow first heard Berg's music she
was captivated and interested, because she could hear nothing lyric
in it. Then it began to evoke dance images.
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Quartertones
Music:
Charles Ives
Length: 11 minutes
Costume: One piece knit jumpsuit with a sleeveless top and flaring
pants
Notation: 1974, good quality, includes effort notation
This dance is a celebration of the dissonant music of Charles Ives.
It requires a dancer who can display full use of the dynamic range.
Rooms
(1955). Excerpts.
Music: Kenyon
Hopkins, a jazz score composed especially for Ms. Sokolow. A small fee
is required by arrangement with the DNB.
Notation: 1967 and 1972-75, unchecked pencil copy, fair
condition. Uncomplicated notation reflecting the simplicity of the movement.
Some excerpts have been used for classroom readings. Costumes:
Street clothes
Set pieces: Wooden chairs
Consultancy: Required
All excerpts require advanced technique and dramatic ability.
"Rooms is an epic of man's loneness and his terrified effort to
escape the naked stare of the four walls of his loneliness". Walter
Sorell.
The
Dream: Man's solo, 5 min.: A man longs to be an explorer. He rolls out
of his space to experience adventures in another world, adventures unobtainable
in his own dreary environment, a landscape he has never seen before:
the deepest jungle, the highest mountain.
Escape:
Woman's solo, 6 min.: A lonely woman fabricates a lover, social companionship
and gaity. A glass of sherry helps her drift into a dream world. She
senses her beauty, reads an imaginary letter, imagines he's coming,
arranges her appearance, rearranges the chairs, imagines him there before
her, makes love to him, but finds she cannot fill the emptiness. She
destroys the scene and moves to the window looking out into the empty
night.
Going:
Man's Solo, 2:30 min.: A young man rushes into his room and soon becomes
"real gone" as he submits to the hypnotic, mesmerizing rhythms
of jazz. He is the greatest boxer, baseball player, dancer, movie lover.
He is going, going-where?
Panic:
Man's solo, 4 min.: A boy struck by panic searches out and begs for
assurance only to be turned down by the cold dismissals of those to
whom he appeals. The only place to hide is "under his bed".
(Requires several dancers or actors to sit in chairs and exit during
the solo).
The
End: Woman's solo, 4:45 min.: A girl, all alone, is driven to the point
of suicide, over and over again. (Very long hair required).
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