Eurydice finds eternal freedom

 Eurydice finds eternal freedom

Eurydice is a soul lost in space and time.  She loses everything that makes her whole and our final moments are, arguably, one of the most tragic endings to a story ever told.  In playing Eurydice through dance I discovered an altogether different perspective.  The Director and Choreographer took a 19 year old girl and turned her into a woman.  Or rather Eurydice did.  She led me to see and feel depths in myself that I never knew were there.  The descent into the underworld was charged with a heady mix of terror and excitement.  From the start Eurydice was not portrayed as a victim; rather a participant in a slow and complex game.  A game that she ultimately lost, or did she?

The medium of dance creates an extra dimension through which to explore notions that lie firmly in our consciousness but rarely revealed.  The Director recognised this as an opportunity and created a journey that forced Eurydice to contemplate great horrors and great joys.  As the dancer this enabled me to breathe, perhaps for the first time.  Through every rehearsal new limits were created before they were, once more, smashed into tiny pieces.  The underworld presented a physical challenge that aroused every part of Eurydice and sent her soul in search of more.  A world full of fear became a world full of danger.  The two are very different things.  This bold, if not controversial, portrayal of Eurydice was almost silent.  It began with great subtlety and care.  As if the touch with death began to awaken depths of freedom, Eurydice descended with an almost fixed stare out to nowhere and I loved that.  I loved the absence at this time.  You could hear a pin drop in rehearsals so we knew it would be a highlight of the production and relished in that fact.

We opened to a packed house and we held our breath.  This was a new interpretation of a classical role and that is always dangerous.  Hell was hell with bodies charging from the dark into the half- light.  On stage tall glass lanterns with real flames were lit to increase their dramatic effect.   These created a virtual and real barrier between Orpheus and Eurydice.  A choreographer who is prepared to put some dance in the shadows is a brave one.  Audiences can get frustrated and disillusioned if the choreography doesn’t trap their interest from the start.  The shadows enabled the bodies to be dissected and created half- truths that were exciting and captured the audience immediately.

For me the relationship between Orpheus and Eurydice is structured in the mind and the bodies are the mere tools.  If they touch something is lost and I find that really compelling.  In the dance this was played out with great sensitivity and passion.  The slightest movement from Eurydice triggered a responsive movement from Orpheus and so it continued with the lamps dividing their space.  It became clear to all very quickly that there was something different about Eurydice in this production.  Her descent to the underworld had changed her and I found that utterly believable.  Our worlds do change us and not always for the better.  Eurydice was curious.  She was curious about evil and she was curious about her own sexuality.  The purity of a classical Eurydice was somewhat stained but the audience went with it.  As I performed the role I could fell the audience with me.  There was a strange silence that only occurs when audiences are fully committed to what they are experiencing.  We were all committed and it showed through every movement and every sound.  The light operatic start became more and more demanding and this only added to the tension.

Finally, the end of her journey was insight.   Orpheus had begun his walk towards the light and he was not to look back.  Eurydice completed four retrograde turns and after each one the longing became more intense.  With that her ‘presence’ grew and entered into Orpheus’s space.  He could no longer bear it and as Eurydice came out of her final turn she could see Orpheus beginning his turn.  Everyone held their breath, the theatre was still.  In that moment all was lost and Eurydice was dragged back deep into the underworld.  She would never be his and in the classical interpretation she would never be…. But in this interpretation she did exist, at least in the shadows.  Just at the last breath of the piece you saw her with the slightest of movement and even slighter touch.  The lights faded and she was gone. 

It was a physical and emotional performance that has stayed with me all my life.  The audience loved it and we, as performers, loved it with them.  Eurydice was accepted in her changed form and that was an enormous success for both the Director and the Choreographer.   At times in my life I have needed to greet Eurydice again and remind myself that the human spirit has an enormous capacity to grow and change.  I am always grateful for her support and I love her dearly.  She found eternal freedom in my heart.