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new life. New objects are introduced - baskets, dance sticks and whisks - and each is used through a variety of transformations that demonstrate the similarity which underlies surface differences. The end is birth and a presentation, a giving up, of these “first fruits.”
Then comes celebration of the fertility that is ensured by giving and the fullness that comes through giving up, becoming empty. The celebration is an affirmation that each is necessary to the other.
The artistry and expressive movement of the dancers belies their “real life” professions. All are dancers by avocation; by vocation, they are chef, building contractor, masseuse, landscaper, painter and teacher, floral artist and playwright, woodworker and a singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band.
After the dance comes the third and final “act” of First Fruits: the exhibition of the art that required a ritual to be truly complete. The audience will be welcomed on stage to look at Moyer’s work more closely and to talk with the artist.
“Most of theater and dance falls somewhere on a continuum between ritual and performance,” Nash said. “I call this a ritual in that I designed it, hoping that the performance of it would evoke a change in ourselves as well as the audience. Through enacting these stylized gift cycles, we seek an increased possibility of connection with each other, the community, the earth and the Mystery that surrounds us.”
The premiere of First Fruits: A Contemporary Ritual will be Saturn day, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m. in the auditorium of Rappahannock County High School. Performances at James Madison University and the Dance Place in Washington, D.C., are scheduled for later in the fall. As a prelude to the premiere, Lewis Hyde, author o/The Gift, will speak at the Gay Street Theater in Washington, Virginia, on Friday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. First Fruits is produced under the joint auspices of the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Rappahannock Association for the Arts and the Community. For additional information, call the RAAC Arts Hotline, (708) 675-3073.
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