aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- [aaus-list] FringeNYC Ancestral Voices Performance

[Nadia Tarnawsky <nmt@po.cwru.edu>]

The press release for the show and a copy of Kathy Valin's of Cincinnati's "City Beat" Magazine review of the show which was performed in Cincinnati in early June.  We have a web site (www.mn2productions.com) which has more reviews of the show as well as information about past shows and links to purchase soundtrack recordings from previous shows.  We don't have a soundtrack for purchase from this show, but you can hear some excerpts that are part of a radio interview we did here in Cleveland (http://www.wcpn.org/podcast/audio/2007/06/0627an.mp3).  If you're in the New York area, please come and support us.

Sincerely, 

Nadia Tarnawsky  

MN2 Productions

MN2 Productions presents

"Ancestral Voices"

An original dance-theatre piece based on the poetry of Oleksander Oles, Lesia Ukrainka, Taras Shevchenko and Mykhailo Drai-Khmara (translated by Nadia Tarnawsky and Helene Turkewicz-Sanko)

When and where:

August 10 - 26, 2007, The New York International Fringe Festival (go to www.fringenyc.org to purchase tickets)

Linhart Theatre @ 440 Studios (440 Lafayette, 3rd floor / Astor Place and East 4th Street)

Performances on:

Wednesday, August 15 at 5 p.m.

Thursday, August 16 at 3 p.m.

Thursday, August 16 at 9 p.m.

Friday, August 17 at 9:45 p.m.

Saturday, August 18 at 3:30 p.m.

The construct of one’s life is built on a path forged both by the choices one makes of one’s own volition and the choices made in response to events beyond one’s control.  The disparate paths created by the decisions two sisters make are the focus of Ancestral Voices,  an original dance-theatre piece presented by MN2 Productions.  This poignant tale draws its text from the translated works of Ukrainian poets Oleksander Oles, Lesia Ukrainka, Taras Shevchenko, Mykhailo Drai-Khmara and Ukrainian folk songs.  

“One of my folk singing teachers told me a story about a village woman in Ukraine ,” says Nadia Tarnawsky, artistic director of MN2 Productions.  “This woman taught her a song and prefaced it with the words, ‘I will sing this song for you because this is my song.  This is my life.’  At that point, I noticed how many of these folk songs were tiny windows into a woman’s life.  When I began to place these songs side by side, an arc of a story emerged.  Often the songs are somber in nature as village life, especially for women, is arduous."  For the production the songs are sung in Ukrainian, but English translations of the lyrics are spoken by actors to facilitate understanding.  Not only does the work meld poetry and song lyrics to tell the story of these two women, but the tale itself is presented through an amalgamation of modern dance, puppetry and theatre.  

     Ancestral Voices was the premiere performance of MN2 Productions and it debuted in Cleveland, Ohio in 2000.  The 2007 version of the work includes new folk song arrangements composed by Nadia Tarnawsky and performed by master musicians:  Nadia Tarnawsky as vocalist and bandurist, Alexander Fedoriouk on cimbalom (hammered dulcimer), Andrei Pidkivka on sopilka (wooden flute), Liesl Hook-Langmack on violin and Don Safranek on percussion.  Additional vocals are provided by Divchata V Kukhni - The Girls in the Kitchen Ukrainian folk trio.  

     Originally choreographed by Natalie M. Kapeluck and Beth Salemi, this production features revised choreography by Natalie M. Kapeluck and new dances created by Mark Tomasic of Verb Ballets.  Ancestral Voices will be performed by Erin Conway, Catherine Meredith, Anna Roberts and Mark Tomasic - dancers from Verb Ballets of Cleveland, Ohio.  Nadia Tarnawsky serves as the show's director.

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City Beat Magazine (Cincinnati, Ohio)

June 06, 2007

Ancestral Voices

This is a delightful dance-theater experience that

takes you straight into the poignant and poetic world

of magical Ukrainian folklore, where the moon dances

with the stars in the blue vault of heaven, spring

blazes with plentiful flowers and willows bend like

drunkards in the wind.

At base are the ancient traditions of oral

storytelling and the piercing tone and expressive

embellishment of traditional Ukrainian “open-throat”

singing, both mastered by narrator Nadia Tarnawsky.

Her solid, motherly presence anchors the hour-long

performance, which weaves through eight scenes of

poetry, dancing, singing and puppetry loosely tracing

the divergent life paths of two sisters, one rich and

one poor.

Alternately speaking and singing, with deftly

interspersed Ukrainian-to-English translations,

Tarnawsky’s voice joins additional recorded voices and

traditional ethnic instruments including cimbalom,

violin, sopilka, zozulka and bandura, according to

program notes. Dancers Erin Conway, Catherine

Meredith, Anna Roberts and Mark Tomasic (who had a

terrific solo portraying Fire) bring emotion, vitality

and clarity to Natalie M. Kapeluck’s choreography,

portraying a variety of characters and situations

extremely well within the limited space they have to

work at the Contemporary Arts Center’s black box

theater.  They also become puppeteers and prop

masters, as needed.

Ancestral Voices has so much aural and visual richness

that following the sisters’ lives eventually didn’t

seem nearly as important as marveling at the wondrous

tales being told along the way. As “the stars speak to

the moon,” two dancers loft illuminated globes that

represent the moon and a star dancing a charming duet.

A new bride, thrust into the home of her unfriendly

mother-in-law, is transformed into a poplar tree

during her husband’s absence, which the mother-in-law

then commands him to cut. The tree begs, “Don’t chop

me, beloved. I am your wife.” It is too late, but a

child is found within the branches of the tree.

A barrel-maker’s daughter (portrayed cleverly by a

life-size puppet with two “live” arms) refuses a man’s

advances and runs away. When he catches her, she tells

him she would rather “rot in the grave than live in

slavery with you.” He dispatches her, but her grave

beckons to the Wind (given voice by an undulating

dancer and a flute), saying “Do not let me fade away.”

A woman sings “Mother, I Love a Man of the Black Sea”

who leads “me barefoot through the frost.” When her

lover disappears at sea (from a wooden boat floating

on top of a fabric sea), the bereft woman vows to

become a mermaid, “find him and embrace him.”

The final scene evokes a celebration feast but, like

all things folkloric, brushed with melancholy. When,

surrounded by masked dancer in the guise of Earth,

Wind, Water and Fire, Tarnawsky’s singer finally

prophesies that her soul “shall speak in the leaves of

the willow tree” and intones “remember me when I am

gone.” It's a lovely and heartbreaking moment, as

authentic as you're likely to get in these days of

easy virtual entertainment. Grade: A-

— Kathy Valin