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Notes from the Choreographer and Composer
The Ouroboros is a symbol of the serpent with its tail in its mouth: representing the eternal cycle of life, the renewal of collective existence. It is an ancient icon, reminiscent of times when serpents were revered for signifying continuous rejuvenation, before they became symbols of evil and betrayal.
Our ballet presents 3 different stories concerning the presence of serpents and snakes in spiritual/religious rites throughout time. The first movement, “Enter the Snake,” is loosely based on an ancient Native American rite in which a snake princess introduces a young man into the cult of the snake. At the end of the rite, the people of the community dance with snakes and release them into the fields to guarantee fertile crops. The center movement, “Beguiled,” tells the story of the temptation in the Garden of Eden in a modern context. Instead of incorporating a literal snake figure, the two dancers alternate in the role of the serpent, illustrating the essential ambivalence of the snake: the yin-yang, active/passive, constructive/destructive. The final movement, “With Signs Following,” is inspired by modern Appalachian snake handling Christians. In this story, a young woman experiences her own spiritual ecstasy through contact with the serpent handling believers. The last section of the ballet, which we refer to as Rapture, unites the three principal female characters (the ancient princess, Eve and modern woman) in kinship and circularity of experience, the Ouroboros.
The seed for the idea of the ballet Ouroboros came from an A&E television program about the snake handling groups in Appalachia – the program was a somewhat lurid story about attempted murder with snakes, ultimately not material on which to base a ballet. However, the program inspired research into the pervasive emphasis on snakes and serpents in ancient religions as well as the study of several literary accounts of snake handling groups, including Dennis Covington’s “Salvation on Sand Mountain.” In addition, the music (and, in turn, the choreography) were inspired by two contemporary literary works, unassociated with snakes: Michael Cunningham’s “The Hours” and Mark Strand’s “A Suite of Appearances.” Both deal with multiplicity of times and characters, as does our ballet, and a kinship among them.
Paul Vasterling and J. Mark Scearce
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