When it comes to classic themes in the performing arts, the double whammy of sex and death pretty much has no equal. These powerful subjects take center stage in Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley's season closer, in a dramatic program that pays tribute to choreographer Donald McKayle. The program features three works by
McKayle, his famed District Storyville, House of Tears and Death and Eros.
McKayle took inspiration for District Storyville from the history of the now-defunct bordello district of New Orleans. McKayle used original music by Dorothy Freitag and early jazz by Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton to explore life and death in this intriguing red-light district. This performance marks a company premiere for the ballet.
Another chapter of real-life history formed the basis for McKayle's House of Tears, which was created in 1992 for the San Jose Cleveland Ballet. Set to tango-influenced music by Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla, the ballet depicts the aftermath of Argentina's 1976 military junta. Suspected dissidents disappeared in this time of political repression, but the brave mothers of many of the disappeared defiantly marched in public with photographs of their children.
Death and Eros is another company premiere. McKayle's ballet, set to a commissioned score by Jon Magnussen, was inspired by a folk tale from the book Women Who Run With the Wolves. The tale concerns an Inuit fisherman who fights and eventually vanquishes death, which then takes the form of a woman.
Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley performs "A Tribute to Choreographer Donald McKayle" May 14 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts in San Jose. Tickets are $22$68. For more information, call 408.288.2800 or visit www.balletsanjose.org.
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