Running Time: 10 minutes, 56 seconds

Music: Sergei Rachmaninov

       Symphonic Dances, Excerpts

Dancer Requirements:

Nine Women, including:

         One Principal - Pas de Deux

         One Soloist

         Two Demi-Soloists

         Five Female Corps

One Male Principal - Pas de Deux

Soloist women must have strong pointe work and acting ability and be comfortable with modern dance movement.  Lead male and female must have strong partnering skills as well.

Technical Requirements:

Stage Size: 30 x 20 preferred

Crossover needed

Costumes:

Women: Originally set with short, white dresses in georgette with gold braiding.

Man: Originally set in a goldenrod poet-sleeved shirt and "Arabian-style" tan pants

  Owned by: Georgia Youth Ballet, Atlanta Georgia

Description

Amasea is a contemporary ballet in four movements.  At its heart, Amasea is a love story, loosely based on the Greek Myth of Theseus and Antiope. In Greek mythology, Antiope was an Amazon Warrior and the sister of the Amazon Queen.  When the Greek hero, Theseus, met and fell in love with Antiope, the queen sent her Amazons to battle Theseus, but Theseus prevailed and brought his beloved Antiope home to Greece to be his wife.

Amasea opens to the Rachmaninov's heavily percussive music with an intense dance for the corps as powerful, strong and fierce women - punctuated with sharp arm lines and glowering eyes.  After the introduction of the lead male and his stealth approach of the lead female, they dance a romantic, swirling pas de deux to the floating adagio.

The swooping pas de deux introduces the conflict as the Amazons, sworn against men try to lure the lead female away from her romance, first in a threatening trio then in an intriguing, yet uncomfortably intimate duet for the queen and Antiope to the lilting waltz at the center of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances.  Antiope returns to her rank within the troupe, but Theseus resolutely follows to win her back.

In the finale, the Amazons dance an exciting and contemporary fugue before Theseus enters to reclaim his love with a dramatic and commanding solo - echoed by Antiope.  The final battle between Theseus and the Amazons ends with Antiope, after a dramatic throw, running to Theseus to escape the stage as the others and the queen are left in defeat.

History:

Amasea was first commissioned by Georgia Youth Ballet in 2005 and premiered in Southern Atlanta the following Spring.  It was selected to be performed at the SERBA festival in Roanoke, Virginia in 2006.  At its premiere, Amasea received laudatory praise from Pacific Northwest Ballet's Maria Chapman - representing the Balanchine Trust -  who noted its strong sense of characterization through the aggressive stylization and the choreographer's ability to communicate that style to the dancers.