Running Time: Approx. 8 minutes

Music: Tichenor, Frost, Albright, Bolcom

               (Performed by pianist Tony Caramia)

Five Contemporary Ragtime Pieces

Dancer Requirements:

Seven to Fifteen Women, Including:

One female soloist with very strong pointe work and charisma,

One female soloist with charisma and a quirky sense of humor.

Plus one or two character men

One group of women must have strong pointe work.

Second group of women must be humorous character dancers.

Note: Originally, men had a minimal acting role only,

but these roles could be expanded to allow for more acting

 and/or more dancing

Technical Requirements:

Stage Size: 30 x 20 preferred

Crossover needed

Set and Prop Requirements:

 Upright piano with stool

 Two small round tables, four chairs

 Trays with wine glasses helpful

Costumes:

Saloon Girls: Half wear red, half wear black.

Dresses are short, dinette-girl skirts and corset-like tops that lace up the back with white ribbing.  Pink pointe shoes and tights.

Proper Ladies: Long, conservative, high-necked Victorian dresses with detailing to match Saloon Girls' costumes, black or tan character shoes

Men: Black slacks white shirts, in vest and bowtie (no jacket), and/or suspenders and bow tie.   Black jazz shoes.

Saloon girls' costumes owned by:

Houston Repertoire Ballet

Proper ladies' costumes owned by:

St. Pius X Dance Company

Description

Heck Hath No Fury is a short, humorous story ballet in five movements to modern Ragtime music.  

It is an upbeat, crowd-pleasing ballet that makes a fun opener or closer.

The first movement is danced by the Saloon Girls.  The music is brassy, exciting and fast and gives the dancers a wonderful opportunity to display quick and unusual pointe work.  The dance is fun, cute and flirty.  In the first movement, we establish a romantic relationship between the Saloon Girl Soloist and the male Piano Player

The second movement is a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the uptight, quirky Proper Ladies.  It is funny character work, but still gives the dancers an opportunity to display grace, extension, and turns.

After each group has danced, the Proper Lady Soloist decides to try to seduce the Piano Player.  In this hysterical scene, the ordinarily stuffy lady awkwardly tries to let her hair down, but her attempts at sensuality are silly and futile as she doesn't even get a glimpse from the object of her attention.

In the next solo, the Saloon Girl soloist, upset that another woman has tried to get her man, dances a flirty, fun solo to prove herself to the group.  The solo includes lots of unusual and impressive pointe work as well as style, humor and fun. The Proper Lady soloist then begins to bang on the piano keys in an attempt to distract the Saloon Girl, which makes the Saloon Girl even angrier.

In the melodramatic "please don't tie me to the railroad tracks" finale, all the Saloon Girls and all the Proper Ladies take sides to defend their own and a raucous "battle" ensues.  The audience burbles with laughter as the dancers twirl across the stage in the hysterical antics of a woman scorned and her friends.  Finally, the Proper Ladies realize that they, too, have been mistreated by their Proper Friend, and they join forces with the Saloon Girls to teach her a lesson...

History:

"Heck Hath No Fury..." was first commissioned by Atlanta's St. Pius X Dance Company in 2002.  It was selected to appear in several concerts in Winter of 2002.