Gluck — Orfeo ed Eurydice, Act III, no. 29, Dance of the Blessed Spirits
- Suite: Orfeo ed Eurydice
- Music:
Gluck — Orfeo ed Eurydice, Act III, no. 29, Dance of the Blessed Spirits
The flute solo in the Dance of the Blessed Spirits is from the French version of the opera. It is usually performed in conjunction with the reprise of the first theme.
Main theme Flute solo - Original choreography by: Isadora Duncan (1903)
- Categories: lyrical dances
Reconstructed by Hortense Kooluris and Julia Levien.
Notes
Barbara Kane
The version by Hortense Kooluris brings a calm search in the Elysian Fields for a deepest peacefulness with gestures of opening up and discovering a world full of innocence and beauty. There are many references to how Isadora Duncan entered and seemed effortlessly to suddenly be at the other side of the stage.
Eurydice is joined in the Elysian Paradise by the Blessed Spirits – a gentle dance of floating and Botticelli images of soft winds and deepest wonder at all that surrounds one and all.
Andrea Mantell Seidel
In the opening flute solo in Act II, set in the mythical Elysian Fields, the dancer shields her face with her long, weighted scarf as if blinded by shame or walking through darkness. In the opera, Elysium or the Elysian Fields represents an ancient Greek conception of the heavenly, blissful afterlife. Arriving in the Elysian Fields, Orfeo finds no solace in the blissful beauty of his surroundings for his Eurydice is not yet with him. He implores the spirits to reunite him with his beloved.
As the dancer majestically opens the scarf, her arms gesture towards the mythical light of Elysium in the distance. The curving arcs of Duncan's signature swaying motion that often evoke water and waves suggest in this dance, a healing ritual that wipes away the vestiges of sorrow and tragedy. Directed at the phalanx of dancers poised symmetrically to her right and left, she weaves through the lines of dancers like a high priestess cleansing humanity of its sins. Standing solemnly in place, the chorus of dancers arc and sway their upper bodies from side to side in long, languished sighs. As the lines of dancers rise up on their toes and then gently fall and skim lightly across the floor in horizontal lines, crossing from left to right or right to left and back again, they symbolize heavenly spirits who uplift Orpheus in his despair and release him from the underworld. On a more universal level, the chorus of heavenly spirits suggests a conquering of the carnal nature, a triumph of the spirit and a harbinger of hope and light in the midst of darkness.
Videos
| Title | Date | Dancers | Full Dance? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dances by Isadora at Jacobs Pillow 7-13-17 INSIDE/OUT Series | 2017-07-13 | Patricia Adams, Natalia Brillante, Marie Carstens, Michelle Cohen, Kelli Edwards, Irene Lutts, Loretta Thomas, Francesca Todesco, Sandra Zarotney-Keldsen | Yes | |
| Blessed Spirits at Jacob's Pillow 2017 Dances by Isadora | 2017 | Yes | Group section only | |
| Hortense Kooluris Memorial Tribute | 2007-08-01 | No | ||
| Isadora Duncan Dance Group: Dance of the Blessed Spirits | 2003-09-06 | Barbara Kane, Children of Manami Asano's Pal Ballet School, Ichihara, Japan | Yes | Including flute solo |
| Duncan Dance Continuum | 1994-06-03 | Yes | Including flute solo | |
| DDD Performance at Mountain View, CA | 1994-03-25 | Christina Fessenden, Ensemble enters at 44:00 | Yes | |
| Dionysian Duncan Dancers Julia Morgan | 1993-09 | Christina Fessenden, Ensemble | Yes | |
| Isadora Duncan's 110th Birthday Celebration | 1987 | Lori Belilove, Jeanne Bresciani, Adrienne Ramm | Yes | |
| Dionysian Duncan Dancers, Margaret Jenkins Performance Space | 1982-01 | Christina Fessenden | Yes | |
| Riverside Dance Festival | 1978 | Lori Belilove, Jeanne Bresciani, Theda Detlor (Rosenbluth), Barbara Kane, Julia Keefer, Hortense Kooluris, Judith Ann Landon, Adrienne Ramm, Cynthia Millman | Yes | |
| Tribute to Isadora Duncan, Hortense Kooluris and Dancers at the World Trade Center | 09/14/1987 | Jeanne Bresciani, Hortense Kooluris | Yes | |
| Isadora Duncan Centenary Dance Company performs Blessed Spirits | Lori Belilove, Jeanne Bresciani, Barbara Kane, Hortense Kooluris, Judith Ann Landon, Adrienne Ramm, Susan Sparkman | Yes | ||
| A View of Isadora Duncan with Julia Levien | No | Excerpt from rehearsal | ||
| A View of Isadora Duncan with Julia Levien | Yes | Includes the flute solo. Staged by Julia Levien. | ||
| The Beliloveables | No |
Related items in the Archives
The San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design > Programs > Isadorables — Dec 28, 1919
The Collection of Louise Craig Gerber > Programs > Julia Levien — Apr 12, 1945
The Collection of Joanna Gewertz Harris > Programs > Early California Duncan Dance — Jun 11, 1950
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Irma Duncan — Apr 23, 1937
The Collection of Barbara Kane > Programs > Linda Elkin — Isadora Duncan Dancers — Nov 05, 1987