About the Book
Throughout history, men have prayed to gods and poets, have interpreted ancient myths for new audiences. But what about women? With sections on teaching and modern writing, this collection of new essays examines how modern female poets—including H.D., Louise Glück, Ruth Fainlight, Rita Dove, Sylvia Plath and others—have subverted classical expectations in interpreting such legends as Persephone, Helen, and Eurydice. Other mythological figures are also explored and rewritten, including Buddhism’s Kwan Yin, Celtic Macha, the Aztecs’ Coatlicue, Pele of Hawaii, India’s Sita, Sumer’s Inanna, Yemonja of the Yoruba and many more.
About the Creative Process: From Book to Live Performance
When Colleen Harris submitted her book, Women Versed in Myth, as the basis for a piece I felt inspired and compelled to embody her writing, to physically communicate the concepts discussed. When the Jazz 2 class was enrolled solely with female students, I knew that was a great starting place.
Each student had to read a chapter from Harris’s book and create a video presentation on the main themes of the chapter with ideas about how it might be turned into a performance. After hearing the students’ presentations, it was clear that there would be two parts. The first would represent the female portrayed by the writings of men, trying to physically communicate a sense of community within the group and what it means to be female veiled by centuries of the opposite gender’s definitions. Collaborating with the African Drumming class to provide sound that was indigenous, ancient, and primal was an important component.
The second part was more difficult. The search for a contemporary female power anthem proved an unfortunately futile effort that only bolstered our sense of commitment to the piece. The narrative of most songs surrounding a strong woman also deal with her break away from or independence from a man. However, this dance was not about breaking away from the confines of a toxic relationship, it was about being a strong, self-loving, self respecting, intelligent woman who can create her own destiny and embrace all the wonderful and challenging aspects of being female in the world–not in spite, of or in direct relation, to men. It is about redefining our image for ourselves.
Browsing through my playlists, I stumbled upon Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” The opening lines seemed very appropriate:
Every time when I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn’t that the way
Everybody’s got the dues in life to pay
I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it’s everybody sin
You got to lose to know how to win
Half my life
Is books written pages
Live and learn from fools and
From sages
You know it’s true, oh
All these things you do come back to you
Working with Paul Murphy and the Contemporary Music Ensemble, we reworked the song to have a female voice sing the lead, but also inserted poetry to be rapped, written by Colleen Harris called “Love Letter To My WomanSelf.” The reinterpretation of a male song into a statement about female community, strength, and redefinition seemed an appropriate contemporary manifestation of the original research material.
Dance is the ultimate Rorschach test, often what viewers interpret of the artistic abstraction speaks more to their life experiences than what the artists intend. We hope you enjoy the presentation and feel our strong female spirits claiming our own destinies and blazing a trail for a better earth and stronger human connection.
Love Letter To My WomanSelf
By Colleen Harris
Your curves spill
unshy from your bones
an avalanche
of everything
a woman should be
in that soft sultry slide
from hip to heel
Your body doesn’t slide
whimpering and apologetic
into a room
no, your body
bangs into a room
your body strikes
a drum when it walks
Your hair is no tame pelt
lying limp across your shoulders
that hair
has snared kings
that hair
has ruled nations
Your skin doesn’t fade to pale
afraid of the sun
you are carved of earth
stepped whole-made
elemental woman
Every color you are
is delicious
almond
caramel
coffee toffee woman
dark sweet sharp sugar woman
come take me, teach me
to make my eyes spark
like glitter on black velvet
that has swallowed the sun
I want to learn to be warm
like a blanket
Photos For Accompanying Slide Show Curated from:
Sandara.deviantart.com
Darkrising.co.uk
Emilybalivet.com
Radiuszero.deviantart.com
Dashinvaine.deviantart.com
Cnn.com
Rutgers.edu
Theatlantic.com
Wnyc.org
Parade.com
Nyt.com
Affinitymagazine.us
Nab.org
Thefamouspeople.com
Howstuffworks.com
Hollywoodreporter.com
Los Angeles Times
Oaklandpost.org
Oyez.org
Abcnews.com
Spark Videos Created by Students in Jazz 2 referencing the book Women Versed in Myth
