http://vimeo.com/61555887

Fables on Global Warming (2013)
Choreography: Karole Armitage
Composer: Corey Dargel
Photo credit: Justine Bursoni

“In the debate over slavery, the law and morality were not aligned. Today we face a similar situation regarding climate change.” – Wes Jackson, MacArthur Fellowship Recipient and President of the Land Institute, named one of Life Magazine’s “most important Americans of the 20th Century”

Fables On Global Warming is a ‘performance art ballet’ by the New York-based Armitage Gone! Dance Company, that blends science with art to create a fresh, entertaining work for the stage on theme of climate change. Ancient fables were written for the children of the ruling class instructing them on the wise use of power. They are rich in metaphors relating to ecology. All take place in the natural world and are told through the eyes of animals. Rather than focus on doom and gloom or on science lessons, “Fables” shows the deep emotional bond of man to nature.

Ten animal stories are brought to life through music and dance. Fables by Aesop and de la Fontaine are interwoven with stories from China and Native America. A troubadour band of extinct North American animals, The Passenger Pigeon, The Carolina Parakeet and The Big Thicket Hog Nosed Skunk narrate the fables through witty lyrics in a contemporary vernacular by Composer/Lyricist Corey Dargel. Dancers morph from animal to animal bringing the stories to life though movement choreographed by Karole Armitage with charming props and puppets designed by Doug Fitch. Lighting is by Clifton Taylor.

The three musicians wander through the tales as spirit guides, observing the scene, powerless to change the course of events. The audience is taken on a journey that begins in outer space where the sun wants to take a wife, and then comes down to earth, moving through scenes of drought, humor, peril, and revelation. Morals that have endured for a thousand years emerge throughout the ballet as a menagerie of lions, ants, hares, bulls, bears, and frogs within a living forest enact the tales. With metaphors relating to climate change, the audience is offered a vision of how we can change our current course and create an enduring bond with nature.