LOVE:TRIPTYCH
Author - Andrey Ankudinov
THE STORY: IDEA OF A DANCE SHOW
Love Triptych Overture score
Movement One
Scene 1
New York, restaurant in Manhattan, a group of businessmen hanging out after negotiations. Men wearing suites, Girl in formal dress. Everybody is in high spirits after successful talks.
Trumpeter plays salon jazz with a pianist.
Girl: (approaches Tr)
- Hey, that was a lovely tune ;) What was it?
Tr:
- ;) Yeah, I love it, too. It's called "Stella by Starlight". You wanna see our gig tonight? We're playing at Palladium.
Grl:
- Really?
Tr:
- Yeah, it's gonna be fun. If you dig jazz..
Grl:
- I do.. It's kind of weird.. I feel like it's more of.. jazz digs me, you know what I mean? When I hear a pop tune, my personality kind of swallows it and makes its judgement about it, but when I hear jazz.. It's like something bigger is talking to me.. Oh, my guys are leaving! I'll see you at night!
Tr:
- Nice to meet you. It's in the West Village, just google for Palladium. 10 pm!
Grl:
-Bye!
Scene 2
Jazz club, Trumpeter's band on stage: Tr, bassist, female DJ, keyboardist.
Music: Medley (All Blues, C Train, E Walk - head in and fade out on kbd solo)
Scene 3
Grl è Tr
Girl sings
Music: Come Dance
Scene 4
Battery Park, daytime
Grl, Tr
Grl:
-Why don't we.. talk about marriage?
Tr:
-Do we really need it? It totally makes no sense to me. If we love each other - do we really need any paperwork? To prove it to ourselves?
Grl:
-That's what boys always say..
Tr:
- Alright, if you see any sense in marriage - what is it?
Grl:
- It's kind of public statement.
Tr:
- What public? What public do you care about? I don't care. I think it's only you and me that matters. We have found each other, which is a miracle, we feel love, which is a miracle - this is what matters. Marriage is an obsolete device, there were times, when people didn't really live, but followed the rules and rituals, that was a fake substitution of life. We are strong and free individuals, we are together not because someone has arranged our marriage, but because of love - we make a free choice, make it every day, and this choice is - being together. This is a real proof of love - isn't it?
Grl:
-Why not make a choice once and forever? Love is also about loyalty, taking care, bearing responsibility. Marriage is an indicator if seriousness.
Tr:
-Girl, listen, this is the road to hell. When there's any external reason to stay together - be it marriage, children or common property - love turns out to the opposite of itself. People eventually start hating each other. Didn't you see it? Look around! Do you know any happy family in this city, anywhere, I mean really happy, not just showing happiness as part of "being normal members of the society"?
Grl:
-I do know a lot of happy families.
Tr:
-Do you?
Grl:
-Yes I do.
Tr:
-I bet they all are narrow-minded middle-class Philistines. That fake - marriage - was invented exactly for them, as they are not capable of a genuine love, they think if they feel some inclination, and dine out, and make a lot of little presents - they love. Then there's a nice house and nice children, alright these are cool things, but is there a true love of a man and a woman in it?
Grl:
-You think you are so exceptional. You think you gonna live your life better than the others.
-And we didn't talk about children, too! You're just selfish.
Tr:
-Hell no. I love you. I care of keeping our love - of keeping your interest in me. Now when I have you, I have a great inspiration, a motivation for personal growth, you know what I mean? Love is not possible without admiration, I dream of us admiring each other more and more each day. I don't want to put you in a cage - called marriage. I don't want to suppress your sexiness, I don't want to isolate you from the rest of the world. I'm happy to see you enjoying your woman's power, your sex appeal, your personal strength. And I'm happy to see you choosing me. A typical husband would be afraid of it, as it sort of jeopardizes his own value. Typical partners just make each other weaker - to feel safe. I want to see you strong and free, I want you to take energy from the outer world, meet new people, to live you own life, and produce more admiration for me, and I want to produce admiration for you - to be worth your choice. I don't want to make you my possession. Is that what you call selfish?
Grl:
-You gonna produce admiration by playing jazz gigs for fifty bucks?
*Grl's cell phone rings*
-Mike? Hi, what's going on? I'm.. at Battery park.. Ann's gone to the islands, you might wanna know with whom, huh? Where? Stern's? Oh, gorgeous.. Rooftop lounge? Wow, pool! James already in it? Tell him to watch his pants. No, I mean they can come off. Yes, of course I'm wearing my bikini on ;)) Yes, bikini and a cell phone - that's how I usually walk around the city ;)) You, bastard ;) Stop it! ;) I see you in a minute!
*Grl takes a taxi and leaves*
Scene 5
Tr alone
Music: Ozone (Tr's meditation)
Tr's monologue:
- A woman is nature's voice. Nature doesn't care about an individual's life, it cares only about well-being of a whole generation. An individual is supposed to breed, rear kids and merely perish. He is not supposed to pursue art. That's why human being lives so short - his body is designed to last longer, but genetically he is programmed for a shorter life: faster generational change is beneficial for the mankind as a whole. A woman will only make a husband and a dad out of a man. Make him make money, get a secure job. A dull, stupid, but amazingly secure job. Everything for the child. Alright, but where is the meaning of a given individual's life? I live for a child, my child, having grown up, lives for his own kids, which makes life meaningless. By pursuing art, I justify life, my own and, hence, of human race in general. Art is about producing ideal values.. This is what makes a human different from an animal. Very fine line, actually. That's why love in woman's apprehension is not an alliance of two strong and free individuals based on attraction and admiration, but family, stability and responsibility - conditions for raising posterity. Is a woman able to love? God, she actually hates all my reasonings, she likes hanging with her superficial friends, who are simple-minded enough to be then packed and sealed in a box called "husband-slash-dad". My ideas just scare her. She doesn't see my boundaries, so she's not sure I can be canned successfully. ..Hold on.. There's something like it.. In some book.. It's on top of my head.. Yes, it's Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra".
*Googles for the text, then reads out loud*
"Why stealest thou along so furtively in the twilight, Zarathustra? And what hidest thou so carefully under thy mantle?
Is it a treasure that hath been given thee? Or a child that hath been born thee? Or goest thou thyself on a thief's errand, thou friend of the evil?"--
Verily, my brother, said Zarathustra, it is a treasure that hath been given me: it is a little truth which I carry.
But it is naughty, like a young child; and if I hold not its mouth, it screameth too loudly.
As I went on my way alone to-day, at the hour when the sun declineth, there met me an old woman, and she spake thus unto my soul:
"Much hath Zarathustra spoken also to us women, but never spake he unto us concerning woman."
And I answered her: "Concerning woman, one should only talk unto men."
"Talk also unto me of woman," said she; "I am old enough to forget it presently."
And I obliged the old woman and spake thus unto her:
Everything in woman is a riddle, and everything in woman hath one solution --it is called pregnancy.
Man is for woman a means: the purpose is always the child. But what is woman for man?
Two different things wanteth the true man: danger and game. Therefore wanteth he woman, as the most dangerous plaything.
Man shall be trained for war, and woman for the recreation of the warrior: all else is folly.
Too sweet fruits--these the warrior liketh not. Therefore liketh he woman;--bitter is even the sweetest woman.
Better than man doth woman understand children, but man is more childish than woman.
In the true man there is a child hidden: it wanteth to play. Up then, ye women, and discover the child in man!
A plaything let woman be, pure and fine like the precious stone, illumined with the virtues of a world not yet come.
Let the beam of a star shine in your love! Let your hope say: "May I bear the Superman!"
In your love let there be valour! With your love shall ye assail him who inspireth you with fear!
In your love be your honour! Little doth woman understand otherwise about honour. But let this be your honour: always to love more than ye are loved, and never be the second.
Let man fear woman when she loveth: then maketh she every sacrifice, and everything else she regardeth as worthless.
Let man fear woman when she hateth: for man in his innermost soul is merely evil; woman, however, is mean.
Whom hateth woman most?--Thus spake the iron to the loadstone: "I hate thee most, because thou attractest, but art too weak to draw unto thee."
The happiness of man is, "I will." The happiness of woman is, "He will."
"Lo! now hath the world become perfect!"--thus thinketh every woman when she obeyeth with all her love.
Obey, must the woman, and find a depth for her surface. Surface, is woman's soul, a mobile, stormy film on shallow water.
Man's soul, however, is deep, its current gusheth in subterranean caverns: woman surmiseth its force, but comprehendeth it not.--
Then answered me the old woman: "Many fine things hath Zarathustra said, especially for those who are young enough for them.
Strange! Zarathustra knoweth little about woman, and yet he is right about them! Doth this happen, because with women nothing is impossible?
And now accept a little truth by way of thanks! I am old enough for it!
Swaddle it up and hold its mouth: otherwise it will scream too loudly, the little truth."
"Give me, woman, thy little truth!" said I. And thus spake the old woman:
"Thou goest to women? Do not forget thy whip!"
Scene 6
Grl alone, sings
Music: Body and Soul 2.0
Movement Two
Fashionable resort on tropical islands. Trumpeter was invited to play an acid-jazz gig with a female deejay.
A big bash, dancing, everyone is high, the whole spirit is friendly, elated.
Dancers wear sexy fashionable clothes, swimwear.
Trumpeter plays with a deejay.
Music: E Walk - trumpet solo and recap, then house music
Grl flirts with the girl-deejay, Tr recognizes Grl. They dance, then go to a private bedroom and have a threesome. Then girl-deejay switches to Satyr.
Tr and Grl escape to deserted night beach, where they enjoy beautiful nature and their bodies, tell compliments to each other and indulge in confidences, also about their shared past, talk about love. They fall asleep on the beach. In the morning Tr finds Grl unconscious.
Music of the Second movement - house: beat, powerful and flexible bass lines, energy. First section - more of jazzy house (a kind of pre-party), then more of energy, final section is about distilled pleasure, which then transforms into trippy weirdness, incorporiety (chromatic lines, destruction of tonal gravity).
Dialogs are not of great importance in Second movement - this is a realm of dance, dialogs are mostly improvised (may be written out though).
Movement Three
It turns out that Grl lapsed into a coma possibly from taking a lot of stimulant drugs. Doctors offer digitalizing her mind - all they can do. They set up a brain scanner connected to a computer. The imagery generated by her mind is projected onto a big screen (video-art) and presented as atonal music.
The stage is divided into two (Upper and Lower) spaces. Upper space stands for Girl's state, for "Another world". At first both spaces are fairly dark, upper space is illuminated in cold colors. At first there are no dancers, only music and video projection. Video image follows the music. Then dancers appear in the upper space, they wear weird clothes, some of them are entirely painted in silver, black or blue color, some are wrapped in a net, they perform chaotic, weird movements (pas) in a slow tempo. The video projection screen is also in the upper space, above or at the same level - to project onto actors' bodies, too.
Trumpeter is alone in the lower space. He plays some short phrases on the trumpet (lights in lower space follow the trumpet sound), but realizes that he can't reach any ensemble with the "upper" atonal music.
Then he manages to get into the upper space, as a representation of him establishing a contact with Grl - this is a transitional event into the second, "light" section.
Tr and Grl perform Pas-de-deux in the Upper space. This is a dance of "supreme", "cosmic" love. Settings and stage illumination changes from representing horror of non-existence of the first section to a "friendly" cosmos, element of sky.
Grl recovers.
In the Final act Grl and Tr return to the City. All three groups of dancers are on stage: formal-dressed businessmen from the First mvt, sexy-dressed young hedonists from the Second mvt, "otherwordly creatures" from the Third mvt.
Three sections:
1. Nonexistence, dark, horrible, alienation, bad trip
2. Light, "Surfing With the Alien", extravaganza, celestial, ecstasy of flight, air, good trip, (?) John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"
3. Final act
Idea of the Third Movement's music:
1 section: odd, scattered atonal soundings, no rhythm, "sonor clouds", noise music (atmospheric, sound effects). Then something like an even drum roll appears, without any metric accents. Then continuous accents appear (eights notes, no quarter notes or measure division), a steady pulse. Germination and sprouting, invasion of meter and beat.
Crucial moment - establishment of clear beat (= normal heartbeat, Grl's resurgence).
2 section:
Regular beat, "flightness", (guitar music a la "Flying in a Blue Dream" Satriani, Steve Vai's style tapping, etc. )
Final act: the synthesis of all three types of music - logic of the First mvt, energy and pleasure of Second, elements of weirdness and "flightness" of the Third.
THE GENERAL CONCEPT
Three components of modern reality:
"I"- Domain of mind, intelligence:
business relations, dramatic intrigue, dramatic action; classical, a little retrograde, conservative
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"S" - "New animality":
glamour, fashion, sport, stimulants, sex |
"X" - new transcendence (in absence of god and religion, or in attempt of searching of a new god)
otherwordliness, images of non-existence, inhuman reality, abstractness, cubism, "inorganic state of matter", virtual reality, hallucinogens.
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"I" = Tonal music:
with its principles of logic, order, development, tonal gravity, melody, form, tension and release, etc.
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"S" = House-music:
beat, power and flexibility, repetitiveness, explicit energy; melody and harmony impede, continuous state of agitation, being high |
"X" = Contemporary academic music:
absence of clear system and form, oddness, fragmentation, harsh dissonant soundings, noise, weirdness, combination of composer's sophistication and illegibility of a piece
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Classical and late tonal composers
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Contemporary dance music
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Schoenberg, modern composers, Late Coltrane, "horror of non-crossing planes", aspiration "beyond boundaries"
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| human |
super-animal |
alien, homunculus |
| face |
body |
weird clothes |
| intelligence |
sex |
abstractness |
| rational |
sensual |
irrational |
| dramatic intrigue |
dance |
trip |
| "you encounter something that requires some effort to comprehend" |
easy |
"a look from the other world", "something that doesn't need you"
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| Hollywood movies, operas, novels |
fashion TV and magazines, porn |
video-art |
| focused |
being high, obsession |
altered state |
| feelings |
sexual attraction, joyride/gap |
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| catharsis, transformation into a new quality |
"I can't get no satisfaction" |
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| action, creation è demolition |
run for pleasures |
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| complex system |
simple system |
super-complex system/chaos |
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"-" |
"+" |
| I |
Philistinism, following a scheme |
creation, intellect |
| S |
narcissism, sadism, "Glamorama", "American Psycho" |
pleasures |
| X |
alienation, non-existence, madness |
transcendence beyond human destiny |
THE MEANING CONTENT OF THE SHOW
The essential meaning content of the show - to embody the imagery of the three components of modern reality described above, to lead the protagonists' love through these three states: I, S, X; to immerse the audience into "three solutions", show the values and weaknesses of each.
First movement takes place in "domain of mind", in the network of urban society. Characters meet each other, fall in love and try to build their love in "normal life context". They encounter contradictions and conflicts: differences in man's and woman's understanding of love and their expectations from the partner, social aspect: the protagonist, being a musician, is not well-off enough, questions of marriage and having children. An intrigue arises: Trumpeter gets a rival, as Girl gets interested in a guy from her business circle. Their relations cut short, they kind of leave their conversation dangling in the mid-air. Trumpeter feels alienation and gives way to nihilist speculations, Girl, after hanging with a "successful careerist", feels that something is missing, something precious that revealed to her while being with Trumpeter.
Both protagonists and their love reach a deadlock, they don't see any way out.
Music of the first movement is tonal (advanced chromatic tonal system). Jazz suite - "man's statement", logic. Come Dance song is much of a "woman's aria", seduction and gaining control over man. Body and Soul 2.0 - deep and complex emotion, a polyphonic journey through subconsciousness, longing for love and transcendence - a kind of a preface to the Third movement.
Second movement takes place in a burning hot atmosphere of "new animality": cult of body and sex, glamour, hedonism, run for pleasures. Heroes meet at an island resort - outside of urban society and its conventions, surrounded by beautiful people, vigorous music and sensual nature. There they find a new way towards each other: they experience an outburst of affection, joy of mutuality, great influx of vitality, they are carried away with a wave of new love - sensual, intimate, tender, free of tension and stress of the First movement. This love is free even of jealousy (which makes it seem invulnerable) - they get engaged in threesome, and this episode only applies a new dimension to their affection to each other. They run away to a deserted beach, where they talk about love with great inspiration, enjoy suddenly occurred closeness and ease, breakdown of all barriers and obstacles, they speak tender and intimate, make plans of their shared future. At dawn Trumpeter finds Girl unconscious.
Music of the Second movement - house music: beat, powerful and flexible bass lines, energy and pleasure.
Third movement takes place outside the common human reality, bears the creative impulse of transcendence beyond human destiny, human share. Girl falls into a coma, probably because of stimulants. Doctors "digitize" her mind. She becomes a sort of "homunculus" - a mind without a body. At first, protagonist "relates" to a mind which is outside of life, he sees a horror of non-existence. He realizes, though, that his love has this irrational dimension, too, and has had it before. Gradually he manages to establish some kind of communication, his love revives Girl.
From one side, love is a contraposition, antithesis of non-existence, but from the other side, it contains some kind of transcendence to cosmos, beyond boundaries of human and life. Having been THERE, protagonist realizes something inside himself, what he used to not notice before, he (as a jazzman) "understands what late Coltrane is about", he reveals "love supreme", higher, cosmic love.
Music of the Third movement - contemporary academic music, atonal, cold, otherworldly, cosmic, "contemplating at gigantic objects". Gradually the beat establishes, music turns into flight-like-feeling electric guitar passages, the cold cosmos becomes a little "populated" and fascinating, more of an exciting flying-in-a-dream feeling.
The Final act is a synthesis of the three elements: I+S+X. None of those is viable by itself, but the true love is all three. Trumpeter and Girl come back to the City having changed. Now they have the experience of Dionysian euphoria on the beach and their "cosmic journey". They feel that their true love has just started.
CONTACT: LOVE.TRIPTYCH{AT}GMAIL.COM
