Dia de los Muertos will come to life on the Ballet Tucson stage in the world premier performance of “Spirit Garden,” a major collaboration among noted artist Lawrence W. Lee and the border rock band Calexico, working with the ballet’s Mary Beth Cabana and Cheiko Imada.
“We’ve been talking about this for 10 years, at least,” said Cabana, the company’s founding artistic director.
“Lawrence Lee has always been a good friend of the company; for years he has contributed paintings to our silent auctions.
“He created hundreds of designs for this project. He always says he has found new inspiration for his own art in doing these catrinas.”
In the world of art associated with Dia de los Muertos, catrinas are those skeleton characters often seen wearing colorful costumes, playing guitars and shaking castanets. Lee’s designs encompass those figures and then carry the subject into more fantastical realms.
“At first I only knew Calexico from their popular songs,” said Imada. “I wasn’t sure I could find enough of their music.”
But then Calexico co-founder Joey Burns gathered up everything the band had ever recorded. Imada spent three months of the summer listening to all of it.
“There were more than a hundred songs, plus music that was on movie soundtracks,” Imada remembered. “Joey was very helpful because he saw it as a chance for Calexico’s music to be heard in another setting.”
No additional music was written for the dance score, but parts of some songs were matched with parts of others in the studio so a particular sound could be extended to ballet length.
Hearing the recorded “Spirit Garden” score in a rehearsal of the whole dance, the band does make a completely different impression. Nearly all the music is instrumental, with an edginess that feels appropriate to the subject matter.
“There are nine separate scenes, and the music is very different in each scene,” said Cabana. “There’s some Latin, some jazz, some party music, differences like that.” The entire dance runs approximately 45 minutes.
“I always had this vision of ‘Spirit Garden’ in my head,” said Imada. “Everything came from that. It would be the story of a mother, father and daughter and the journey from their world into the spirit world. And there would be child angels who become Monarch butterflies.
“I wanted to show them having a lot of happiness, as a way of reminding people in the audience to find more happiness in their own lives now.”
A second world premiere on the program is company ballet master Daniel Precup’s “Perseus and Andromeda,” running about 35 minutes. This is the second in his Greek Heroes trilogy, following “Castor and Pollux.”
The legend of Perseus and Andromeda involves a sea monster and the infamous Medusa with her head of snakes. Anyone who dared look at Medusa was instantly turned to stone.
Cast in the role of Medusa is principle dancer Jenna Johnson. Her serpentine headdress tells you everything. While watching a portion of the rehearsal, though, Precup wouldn’t reveal how he created the sea monster effects. He only smiled.
Completing the concert is a salute to patriotism, Cabana said.
