Music has always been at the heart of Mr. Edelson’s connection
to dance as it is now with his choreography. For him the dance
is definitely born out of the music: in the case of Bedtime
Stories, it was Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.
5 which he had been considering as music to choreograph to for
some seven years. However the concept of the ballet was only
formed a year ago when David Nixon approached Mr. Edelson to
create a new work for BalletMet.
The first movement of the ballet explores individual relationships
and their different manifestations, the second movement follows
a lone female who eventually selects a partner and in the third
movement relationships are once again examined but this time
in the light of the similarities that we share and a sense of
communality.
The first movement is in a typical Concerto Grosso form, a
core of musicians playing a ritornello that recurs throughout
the piece alternating with varied episodes for the instrumental
soloists. Following this structure Mr. Edelson has matched his
ideas to the music, each soloist episode being aligned with a
different relationship on stage. Some characters are approached
seriously while others are choreographed from a more satirical
point of view. Humor in any genre is a challenge, and in dance
it is a skill that we do not practice too often. Lawrence believes
it important to treat the humor seriously, sincerely and honestly.
He also feels there is always some truth underlying most comedy.
Perhaps the most strikingly different musical dynamic comes
at the end of this movement where the harpsichord comes to the
fore and actually separates from the rest of the orchestra for
an extended cadenza. For this moment Mr. Edelson has brought
out the lonely female who will lead us into the second movement.
The first movement ends with a restatement of the opening both
musically and dancewise.
The second movement is lyrical and slow in contrast to the
two outer movements. The movement begins with a sense of exploration
that is echoed by the soloist’s search for her ideal partner.
By the end of the movement we find all the dancers in partnerships
of their choosing.
The style of movement in the third movement of the ballet
is a little more free and there is more ensemble dancing. Although
we may not look for it or achieve it in the same way, we can
all be happy in a relationship that suits us.
Mr. Edelson says that his movement style is very influenced
by the music. He likes to work with the dynamic contrasts of
the music, not always literally imitating them, and sometimes
deliberately contrasting his movement to the dynamics of the
music. He studies the music greatly in preparation for his time
in the studio, but for the last two days before commencing work
on Bedtime Stories did not listen to it in order
to come into the studio fresh.
Lawrence has developed a different movement vocabulary for
each couple, but there are some common motifs for all couples.
He very much enjoys working with the dancers in creating these
movements and views the choreographic process as a true collaboration.
He does not like to come into the studio with fixed steps in
his head that he dictates to the dancers. Rather he likes to
work with them to shape movements that suit his ideas and the
dancers’ styles of movement. It is this collaboration as
well as the opportunity to physicalize the music that drives
Lawrence’s interest in the choreography.
He believes it is also important to be able to discard ideas
that, however beautiful or satisfying, are unsuitable to that
moment in a ballet, the music, or to those particular dancers.
He has had the experience of creating movements on one couple
that though pleasing to the eye did not match the section he
was working on but were found to be more appropriate to another
couple.
Mr. Edelson does not feel that he is plunging into unknown
territories of movement invention but is more interested in presenting
the individuals in his work and the differing dynamics of relationships.
However, this ballet has offered him the chance to experiment
with partnering in different ways.
The use of beds as set pieces has added challenges and opportunities
that a flat stage does not. (The beds have a sprung floor covered
with a regular dance surface and an inclined surface so that
the audience has a better perspective). By creating more of a
three dimensional space the dancers can move on, under, between,
around and over the beds. Challenges abound with reduced space
and bed linens that ensnare the dancers. There is the obvious
symbolism attached to the use of beds, but Lawrence does not
want that to override the importance of the dynamics of the relationships
that go beyond the sexual.
Lawrence Edelson describes Bedtime Stories as
"a light hearted look into different relationships, and
our quest to find the perfect mate."
Lawrence
Edelson, choreographer
It was actually to enhance his presence and movement on stage
as a singer that Lawrence Edelson began to take dance classes.
Indeed it not only helped him but also led to new careers, as
a dancer and a choreographer.
Lawrence began his dance training at The School of Dance in
Ottawa, Canada to augment his studies as a Bachelor of Music
Degree candidate in voice performance and musicology. Receiving
a full scholarship to The Joffrey Ballet School, he moved to
New York and trained with Trinette Singleton. Upon graduating
from The Joffrey Ballet School Mr. Edelson joined Boston Ballet
II and went on to dance with Boston Ballet. For those companies
he danced a varied repertoire including the premieres of Donald
Byrd’s Untitled at the Jacob’s Pillow
Dance Festival and Merce Cunningham’s Breakers at
the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Following a season with Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Mr.
Edelson joined BalletMet where he enjoyed dancing the company’s
diverse repertoire.
In addition to his dance credits, he has sung principal roles
in opera, oratorio and musical theater including Chevalier de
la Force in Dialogues des Carmelites, Don Basilio
in Le Nozze di Figaro, the tenor soloist in Charpentier’s
Te Deum, and Baby John in West Side Story.
Lawrence began choreographing while still a student at the
Joffrey Ballet School and was the youngest choreographer selected
to participate in Bessie Schönberg’s choreography workshop
at Jacob’s Pillow. Soon after he was chosen to choreograph
at The Carlisle Project.
He has served as coordinator of the Joffrey Ballet School’s
New Choreography Workshop at City Center, New York, and has created
works for the Joffrey Ballet School and Joffrey Concert Dancers
including Symphonic Etudes to music by Schumann
and Poéme d’un Jour to songs by Fauré.
For Boston Ballet’s Dancers’ Resource Fund Benefit
Performances Mr. Edelson choreographed Dance of the Seven
Veils to Strauss’ score and Bright Blue
to music by Torke. Recently he choreographed the dance and combat
sequences for Opera/Columbus’ Carmen. Bedtime
Stories is his first work for BalletMet. He is acting
as advisor to Mr. Nixon on his musical selection for Beauty
and the Beast.
Lawrence lives in New York City where he continues to choreograph
while pursuing intensive vocal studies in the Bel Canto and 20th
century operatic repertoire.
Johann
Sebastian Bach, composer
One of the best known classical composers today, J.S. Bach,
although celebrated as an organist, was not widely known as a
composer in his lifetime. Only a few dozen of his compositions
were published while he was still alive. In 1801 the publishing
of the Well Tempered Klavier brought some recognition,
but it is possibly the 1829 performance of the St. Matthew
Passion in Berlin, conducted by Mendelssohn, that revived
interest in his work.
J.S. Bach was born at Eisenach in 1685, the son of Johann
Ambrosius Bach, an organist and town musician. Orphaned at the
age of 10 he went to live with his older brother Johann Christoph
in Ohrdruf where he studied organ and klavier. For three years
from 1700 he was a chorister at St. Michael’s Church, Lünnenburg
where he learned much from organist Georg Böhm. Bach was
organist himself at Arnstadt and Mühlhaussen, where he married
his cousin Maria Barbara.
From 1708 - 1717 he was organist at the Kapelle of the Duke
of Saxe-Weimar, leaving there to become Kappelmeister at the
court of Anhalt-Cöthen where the prince’s interest
was not in religious works but instrumental composition. It was
here that he composed his Brandenburg Concertos.
In 1720 his wife died and in 1721 he married Anna Magdalena
Wilken, a daughter of the court trumpeter. Due to the growing
lack of interest in music at Cöthen, Bach applied for the
cantorship at St. Thomas’s in Liepzig. Although not chosen
for the post he eventually received the job due to the first
choice, Graupner, withdrawing. Bach remained at St. Thomas’s
the rest of his life. His eyesight began to fail him the last
10 years of his life, and he became totally blind for the last
year. He died in Leipzig in 1750.
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