Inspired by the brilliant vocals of k.d. lang, Hadley sets her new work in a Country Western dance hall and observes the changing of partners over the course of the evening.

The music for this world premiere by Susan Hadley and BalletMet is taken from two albums by k.d. lang: Angel With A Lariat (1986) and Absolute Torch and Twang (1989), both released by Sire Records.

Susan Hadley had always loved k.d. lang's music and when the opportunity to create a piece for BalletMet came along it seemed the ideal opportunity. "To me k.d. lang's music is big and needs a lot of dancers on stage to complement it," Hadley says. BalletMet gave her the chance to work with a large number of dancers.

Susan wants to make dances about real people; she always hopes that the audience can find themselves in her dances. There is unending interest and variation in how we react together in our regular lives and Susan seeks to explore and give insight to the familiar, to frame her dances in terms we have all experienced. As Martha Graham turned to Greek mythology to embody her ideals, Hadley says she looks to people within her own life, like her grandmother.

Susan says her dances are "always about dance." Although the traditional ballet vocabulary originated from social dancing, it has evolved to a point away from everyday movement. In Trail of Broken Hearts, Susan accesses a more vernacular form that she finds very interesting. "Social dance is about being partnered, being partners is also a part of our lives. We either need, have, want or don't want one another. What about the one left partnerless?" Social dance can connect us to life outside. For Susan a successful audience reaction to her work is when someone will say 'I saw myself up there on the stage.'

For this ballet Hadley has chosen to combine the familiar music of k.d. lang and the equally familiar line dance form to frame her own personal perspective. As for inspiration Susan says "The passion of lang's voice is inspiration enough."

"We used to go two-stepping with Mark Morris' company whenever we were in the neighborhood," Susan says in response to my questions about her research into the dance form. "There are so many influences in country line dancing from earlier forms such as The Lindy and Swing. I find this really interesting."

By using k.d. lang's music Susan says she is reinventing herself somewhat. For 11 years she worked fairly exclusively in close collaboration with Bradley Sowash. They not only shared a personal life but were fully interlinked in the creative process. Ideas flowing from one to the other, sometimes dance coming first, sometimes the music, but never one too far ahead of the other. The habit of working with a living composer, only a dream for most choreographers, was her reality. Working with an existing and unalterable piece of music therefore, required a different approach. All of a sudden a bewildering array of all the world's music is available, but there are built in inflexibilities. These new opportunities allowed Susan's interest in choreographing to vocal music to blossom.

Not only is this musical approach somewhat new to Hadley but also working with a professional ballet company introduces elements, skills and expertise different than those she encounters in the freelance dance world. In ballet changes tend to come about in a slower and more deliberated way whereas, in the world of modern dance, being different and new is the goal; defying one's masters is the norm. In translating the 'modern experience' to the ballet world, Susan appreciates the opportunity to present to a different audience and set of dancers that which she believes in. She views this as all good material for artistic growth.

At the time of writing, this is only the second ballet to be choreographed to the music of k.d. lang. The first was created by Peter Pucci for the Alberta Ballet in October 1994. Entitled Lifted by Love, it too was set to a selection of Ms. lang's songs.

The 'new' craze of line dancing probably predates circle and square dances as a basic dance form. However, it was not until recently that it 'swept the country' in the form we associate with the term.

'Line dance' can apply to such diverse dances as the Portuguese Charmarita, the Conga, the Hustle and the Cowboy Cha Cha. To add to the confusion, in many cases the term can apply to individuals dancing without partners. Thus a line dance is not necessarily performed in a line.

Ask ten people the origin of country line dancing and you will probably get ten different answers. It can probably be argued that its development parallels that of Country dance, tracing a thread that begins with strong ties to lusty European folk dances and more refined ballroom styles. These were brought to North America in the 1800s where a natural intermingling of styles occurred that evolved into round and square dances. On the frontier, where there was a lack of female company, men would often perform solo "jigging" including clogging, leaping and heel clicking. There is also some evidence of 1970's disco influences. In the 1980s, the general upsurge in popularity of country music, fashion and style culminated in ground fertile for the 1993 mass promotion of Achy Breaky Heart. A new tune with a new dance, marketed with savvy to promote Billy Ray Cyrus. Some also argue that the prominance of commercial and technological preasures on our society has led to the desire to escape to a simpler dwon-home lifestyle.

Just as country music has crossed the traditional boundaries and moved into the pop charts, line dancing today crosses the boundaries of income, race, age, etc. and is performed not exclusively to country music but to rock and rap as well. Country line dancing has evolved to a point where it has its own terminology, culture, competitions and television shows. Its popularity lies not only in the States but internationally as well. It is lively, danceable and uncomplicated.

There is established dance floor etiquette by which individual line dancers take the center of the floor with more advanced dancers taking the middle ground and the continuous flow dancers taking the outside circle. Certainly the fear of being asked (or not) to dance is removed because you do not need a partner to get involved.

Brush - Usually forwards or backwards, a brushing of the foot against the floor

Close - Bring the feet together

Cross - One foot moves in front or back of the other

Dip - Slight bend of the knee of the supporting leg while other remains straight

Grapevine - Four steps travelling sideways, the fourth step can be either a close, a touch, a brush, kick or similar

Heel Pivot - A turn on one heel with no weight change

Rock - Shifting weight from one foot to the other

Slide - Step out on one foot then drag the other along the floor to join it

Weave - A grapevine of eight or more counts

Ambiguities are, of course, only natural from an artist who steadfastly refuses categorization, and k.d. has made a habit of reinventing the rules with each new release. "I just don't want to belong to any one musical style" she has said. "As a singer and as a contemporary artist, it's difficult because the actual sound of my voice is of a certain ilk. I kind of hear it as more of a 40's-style jazz singer, and yet my mind and my attitude are more alternative. But I can't sing alternative music well...so as a songwriter I have to write interesting but classic songs... The voice demands a certain thing. I can't find it anywhere, so I have to write it myself."

"In the early 1980's k.d. lang burst onto the scene as a kitsch cartoon, a country punk in spiky hair, sawed-off boots and cat's-eye glasses with no glass in them. Laying claim to the reincarnated spirit of Patsy Cline, she went to Nashville, wowed everyone with her talent, wore all the right rhinestone jackets - but never felt at home in [the] country music establishment...With Ingenue, her fifth album, lang incinerated her cow-punk persona," (Brian Johnson - Maclean's).

Angel With A Lariat (1986) took a rockabilly approach, with producer Dave Edmunds. 1987's dark Shadowland rebuffed commercialism and turned more to the tradition of Patsy Cline, with producer Owen Bradley. The release in 1992 of Ingenue brought k.d. to the widest and most appreciative audience of her career, redefining the appeal of torch-singing for a new generation. It also yielded her first number one song, Constant Craving. In an intentional move away from the more traditional aspects of Ingenue, k.d. began listening to pop groups such as Elastica and Oasis as well as people like Bjork and liked the directions they were taking. She and longtime producer and songwriter partner Ben Mink created All You Can Eat in 1994-95, first writing the music together with lang then adding the lyrics. "It's like doing a landscape painting, then waiting to put in the foreground," says Mink. k.d. describes All You Can Eat as "More ambient and ethereal."

k.d. lang, the Triple Grammy-winning songwriter was born in Consort, Alberta. Alberta is the heartland of country music in Canada, where it is just as popular as in the United States. The youngest of four children (one brother and two sisters), her mother Audrey, a school teacher, still lives in Consort. Her Father, Adam Lang, who ran a drugstore, deserted the family when Katherine Dawn was twelve years old. As a 10th-grade student she took to signing her name with a star and in 1982 became the coolly diminutive k.d. lang.

She won her first Grammy for Best Vocal Collaboration in her duet with Roy Orbison on his hit "Crying". The same year she was on the cover of Chatelaine magazine as its Woman of the Year. Since then she has recorded Moonglow with Tony Bennett, but has turned down subsequent offers of duet work preferring to be known for herself.

The second Grammy came in 1989 for Best Country Vocal Performance - Female, with her third following in 1992 for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female for her single Constant Craving. In addition k.d. has received a Brit Award, a SOCAN trophy, Billboard and MTV awards for her video of Constant Craving , several Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Awards and an American Music Award in 1992 as well as numerous Gold and Platinum Albums.

Not a stranger to controversy, k.d. lang appeared on the August 1993 cover of Vanity Fair wearing pinstripes and workboots being shaved, and seduced, in a barber's chair by a swimsuited Cindy Crawford. It became the third-biggest selling issue in the magazine's history. Her 1990 "meat stinks" advertisement for animal rights created quite a stir as did being poster girl for Lesbian Chic. However it is the music that matters.

In addition to her singing and songwriting talents, lang plays a variety of instruments including guitar, keyboards and harp. "She can grab an instrument and coax something out of it just through her own musicality," says Ben Mink.

k.d. lang appeared in the 1991 movie Salmonberries directed by German Percy Aldon. She played a love-struck Inuit tomboy who strips off her clothes to prove that she is a woman. It was a charismatic performance, but she does not plan to do more acting. "I don't think I am an actor ... the only person I can think of who I respect both as a musician and an actor is Tom Waits," she says.

Having scaled the heights of celebrity, lang says it is a nice place to visit but she wouldn't want to live there. She has moved away from Los Angeles and now resides in Vancouver.

Discography

1983 Friday Dance Promenade Bumstead Records

1984 A Truly Western Experience Bumstead Records

1986 Angel With A Lariat Sire

1987 Shadowland Sire

1989 Absolute Torch And Twang Sire

1992 Ingenue Sire

1993 Even Cowgirls Get The Blues Sire (Soundtrack)

1995 All You Can Eat Warner Bros. Records