Angels in the Architecture
Choreography by Mark Godden
Music by Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring
Original Lighting by Jeff Hurd
Costumes by Paul Daigle
Scenic Design by Paul Daigle and Mark Godden
World Premiere May 14, 1992 by Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Texas born choreographer Mark Godden took the spiritual lifestyle of 19th century Shakers as the inspiration for this work of transcendent beauty. The ballet captures the full range of emotions - from serene and contemplative to exalted and radiant - found in Copland's score. Using movement as simple and deliberate as the Shaker lifestyle itself, Angels in the Architecture grapples with spirituality and celibacy in a journey that begins and ends with images of tranquil beauty.
Mark Godden first became acquainted with the Shakers and their lasting gifts to us by reading a coffee table book. The images from that book led Mark to find out more about these people. He visited museums and read as much as he could on the Shakers and increasingly became captivated by the beauty and simplicity of their life and the environment they built around themselves. The more he learned, the more he wanted to know.
At the same time Mark became attracted to and familiar with Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. The most well known section of this composition is based on the Shaker melody 'Tis a Gift to be Simple, a tune also known today as Lord of the Dance.
Being resident choreographer of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Mark Godden had the opportunity to use these two sources to set about creating the ballet Angels in the Architecture. The title is derived from this quote from Thomas Merton: "... The peculiar grace of a Shaker chair is due to the fact than an angel might come and sit on it." Strangely enough, Mark was not familiar with the dance by Martha Graham for which the score was written.
Mark did not want the dancers to actually be Shakers, but more to have the dance embody the spirit of Shaker beliefs. This, along with their many finely crafted artifacts, is most of what we have left today, due to the few members of the sect alive. The ballet draws upon this in many aspects.
What could more completely depict the Shakers than their famous broom? A symbol of both their practical inventiveness and their belief that " cleanliness is next to godliness", the simple broom that we accept now as everyday was actually a Shaker innovation. Until that point in time brooms were a rough bunch of bristles that moved dirt in an indiscriminate manner. The Shakers developed the method of binding a broom that is now one of their enduring legacies to us.
Mark read that a well made Shaker broom would stand on its own. This image was a fascinating one and inspired the opening image of the ballet where six brooms stand alone. It is an arresting sight and totally without tricks. Mark then develops a "broom vocabulary" of movement, first for the women, and then with the men joining. They manipulate and dance with the brooms, eventually hanging them on the set where they become an active part of the stage setting. Later on there are are movements in the dance that depict the sweeping action of the brooms.
No good Shaker home was without its 'peg rail', a place where all things could be placed away from the floor and its dirt. The stage is set on three sides with such a peg rail from which hang another ubiquitous symbol of the Shakers - chairs. As with the brooms, the chairs are no mere set pieces, but become actively integrated into the choreography in the latter portion of the dance.
There are many moves the dancers make that are derived from Shaker life, most obviously perhaps are the praying hands, but there are also moves inspired by the labor of planting the crops, cleaning, and the movement of a rocking chair.
The choreographic style of the ballet is founded in a ballet base, but developed and manipulated by Mark Godden based on his own experiences and taste for movement. It is extremely musical and reflects strongly on the Copland score. Mark extends the body's normal range of movements by fully utilizing the potential of the ladies skirts as well as the chairs and brooms.
The costumes by Paul Daigl, along time collaborator with Mark Godden, are not simple replications of 'Shaker-wear', but designed to enhance the choreography at the same time they embody the earthy tones of the countryside. The lighting is meant to reflect the shafts of clear light cutting into the space one so often sees in the Shaker-built meeting halls.
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