Patricia Okenwa choreographer

Annie Yim pianist of Minerva Piano Trio (2016/17 Young Artist), and founder of MusicArt London

Photography © Camilla Greenwell 2017

Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloe is his largest work for orchestra, well-known both as ballet and orchestral suites. What is the motivation behind creating a new adaptation of it?

AY: It started when the Trio came up with the idea for the concert programme, and we wanted to explore dance. When one thinks of a composer whose music is inspired by dance, Ravel comes to mind very quickly. Ravel’s music is imbued with dance elements (bolero, habanera, waltz, and ancient dance forms). We wanted to programme Ravel’s Trio, his only piece for piano trio and a great work. As the opportunity to commission a piano trio transcription was available to us with the support of St John’s Smith Square, we thought we would have one of Ravel’s more dance-related works arranged for piano trio, and then invite dancers to join us. It was quite a simple thought at the time! Almost immediately our attention turned to his famous, but not-often performed ballet Daphnis and Chloe.

The chance to work with dance fits in with my own initiative, MusicArt London, which has been bringing together different art forms to explore shared aesthetics with music, including the visual arts and poetry. And now the time has come for dance! I was captivated by the incredible intimacy of having dance and chamber music share a stage when I saw Thomas Adès at the piano with soprano Claire Booth, and two dancers in a piece by Karole Armitage at Sadler’s Wells in 2014. This sets an inspiring model for me. 

How did you come up with the idea of returning to the actual novel Daphnis and Chloe by Longus, the 2nd-century Greek writer, instead of following Fokine’s libretto for the Ballets Russes?

PO: It was interesting to speak to Annie about the context and history of the music, especially her motivation to create a new piano trio of this famous work, to uncover a new layer and wanting to commission a new non-literal dance for it, maybe looking for a more harmonious collaboration than Ravel experienced with Fokine… It was clear from the start that I was most interested in the overarching themes in the novel of innocence from both the central characters, but also the nature surrounding them, sexual awakening and sensuality, the awkwardness of not knowing, the turmoil of experience and finally coming of age and moving into maturity, rather than the details of the narrative in the novel or the original ballet. 

AY: Fokine’s libretto deviated in many ways from the actual novel, and as Patricia mentioned, the libretto was in fact a source of conflict between Fokine and Ravel. Ravel had read the French translation of the novel by Amyot, so it makes sense to return to the novel as a starting point, alongside Ravel’s music. I found an illuminating insight by Jeffrey Henderson in his translated edition of Daphnis and Chloe: the couple’s adventures on the way to happiness are more internal and psychological than external. I think this resonates with our vision.

PO: Yes, it was a great way in to explore the universal themes or emotional stages physically with Estella and Thom, who were ready to throw themselves deeply into improvised play. Because we kept the cast as a woman and man, they would in a way represent the two protagonists, but I also wanted them to simply be themselves exploring the themes, music, and possibilities of their dancing relationship.  

AY: And, musically, the fact that we have a new concert suite for piano trio also means that it will take precedence over the narrative. Although Ravel’s music illustrates the libretto very well, this is music that has the power to evoke more than a set programme of events. So this new dance choreography feels very much a response to the music without Fokine’s libretto, as well as the extracted poetic meanings from the original story. Following Patricia’s first ideas on innocence and nature, I found it natural and liberating to move away from a literal interpretation.

Can you tell us a little about the process in creating this new choreography? What are the challenges?

PO: This has been a particular challenge to my practice. My work is very emotional and much of my focus is on understanding how to use instinctual response in the theatre setting, but I have not chosen to work with a strong existing narrative before outside of my work with NMC New Movement Collective, where we have based work on fiction. The dancers and I spent much time investigating what these themes could feel like physically through improvisation and how the resulting movement would feel to the observer. We structured these improvised tasks around the music to understand how the two would work together, before we started to shape and hone the choreography. Thankfully I'm working with two most generous and skilful dancers so this felt synergetic as we went from the felt map to something more concrete and composed.

AY: There is this incredible way in which Patricia worked with Thom and Estela. During their early rehearsals, I just observed the creative process, and was amazed by their responsiveness to subtleties like harmonies and phrasings in the music – it was very absorbing.  When the Trio started working on the transcription, these impressions added to my interpretation of the interplay between the different voices and colours in the music.

How did the new piano trio transcription by composer David Knotts take its current shape of three movements, and what are the implications for the dance?

AY: We reached a joint decision between the composer David Knotts, Patricia, and the Trio to select ‘Nocturne’, ‘Pantomime’, and ‘Danse Guerrière’, which will be under fifteen minutes. The title of the work Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe distinguishes it from the two orchestral suites by Ravel and the complete ballet, and other transcriptions for solo piano. The ‘Nocturne’ and ‘Danse Guerrière’ come from the first Orchestral Suite. We replaced the middle ‘Interlude’ with ‘Pantomime’, which comes from the second Orchestral Suite.  ‘Pantomime’ is a dance between only Daphnis and Chloe in the ballet, and its music is full of sensuality, which fits in well with the trajectory that reflects the journey of the discovery of love, from innocence to awakening, to touch and passion. 

PO: When the piano trio transcription was completed and I was able to hear the trio go through it in rehearsal, a new world made itself felt to me. Unlike the epic sound of the orchestral version and the solo piano version we had been working with, this is much more of a conversation where themes are echoed and complemented, but the individual voices and their expression are very clear. This was very interesting to me as I thought the dancers would become an integrated part of this conversation, in a new sound world that feels very here and now. All five performers will go through the structure of the music and choreography, and also fully express all the poetry of the music and the physical journey I had designed in response.

The Minerva Piano Trio, with dancers Thomasin Gülgeç and Estela Merlos, perform the world premiere of Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe on Thursday 9 March 7.30pm. The programme also includes music by Mozart’s Piano Trio in Bb K502, Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s My Fleeting Angel, and Ravel’s Trio

Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe was commissioned in association with MusicArt London as part of St John’s Smith Square’s Young Artists’ Scheme.

 

St John’s Smith Square Patrons and Friends event: Preview of Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe
Tuesday 7 March 12.00pm
This exclusive event includes a conversation between the artists, chaired by Paul Hoskins, Music Director of Rambert dance company, as well as an open rehearsal of Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe with the Minerva Piano Trio and dancers Thomasin Gülgeç and Estela Merlos. Please contact Lynn Simmonds (Development Manager) about attending this event.