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Process Essay. ‘A Feather on the breath of God’: Medieval legacies in modern choreography

  • Special issue: Legacies of medieval dance
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Abstract

This article is a reflection on and analysis of my working process as a scholar-artist, based on my experience choreographing and performing ‘Cosmic Dance,’ an evening-length work of modern dance accompanied by a live choral performance of Hildegard von Bingen’s antiphons for St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins from her Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum, in 2017. I explain my approach to the piece, explicating the challenges of ‘recreating’ or ‘reconstructing’ medieval movement practices in modern performance, as well as the challenges particular to this project, then reflect on the ways in which engaging with legacies of the medieval in my choreographic methodology and performance choices helped me to navigate those challenges. Throughout the article I discuss specific instances of these engagements, integrating images and video from the performance itself as examples of interactions with traditions of medieval dance, text, art, performance practice, and concepts of authorship.

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Notes

  1. See Hildegard (1991), XLR, 103–4 for the Latin text.

  2. The standard translation reads, more accurately, ‘I, like the feather, am not endowed…’ (Baird and Ehrman, 1994, 40r, 111). Kujawa-Holbrook uses the more evocative phrase ‘I am a feather on the breath of God,’ which I found so striking, in her translation (2016, 57).

  3. The piece can be viewed in full at my website (https://www.rstraplesovers.com/cosmicdance.html) or on YouTube (https://youtu.be/_PAaRXvm8YU). Accessed March 20, 2023.

  4. Moreover, see John Butt (2002) for ‘authenticity’ in early music performance particularly and Kate Bowan (2020) for a very thorough and helpful background of historically informed performance.

  5. For more on dance notation and its history since the fifteenth century, see Hutchinson Guest (1984 and 1989).

  6. For more on the medieval use of this trope, see Syson Carter (1987) and Silen (2022).

  7. A virelai was ‘one of the medieval French dance-songs (from virer, to twist or turn), which combined lyric poetry, song, and dance… in triple meter’ (Dickason 2021, 62).

  8. It is worth noting that others have proposed that the Ordo Virtutem should not be read as a theatrical text written to be performed at all, but instead, for example, in the context of an allegorical literary debate (Wouters 2020) or as an ascetic-mystical chant (Robusto 2002).

  9. Clip 1, ‘Circle I’ (10:18–10:43): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxdPQdzkicPaaXgqEUbU3kt-0TLGpmlAhk. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  10. Clips 2 and 3, ‘Circle II’ and ‘Circle III’ (30:35–32:35): https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx2OdM0dBuWWrOi48u1oR24Lt-aqCnItlz; https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxRxn8nr9HyFbAotLuln8Lo-Gc3h9-36kc. Clip 4, ‘Circle - Fountain - Sternum Lift’ (49:38–50:20): https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx0K2NYZo5pc3igdlLgsyp8QaO7MGu9296. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  11. Clip 5, ‘Figures - Line I’ (10:54–11:15): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxSyNLoaf-UBhC6EcPd7RmeASTRJ5bpS4i Clip 6, ‘Knots’ (30:54–31:26): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxhEspfFHJO1Cva-QufL0wTQLXYvKURyzg. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  12. For more on Ursula’s legend and hagiography, see Bradford Montgomery (2010); Cartwright (2016); and Cusack (1999).

  13. The manuscript transmission has led to two critical editions: Newman’s (1998), based on Dendermonde, Abbey of Sts. Peter and Paul, MS 9; and Walter Berschin’s (1998), based on Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibl., MS 2.

  14. The Latin text and English translation of these verses is available in Newman (1998, 126–31, 234–5).

  15. The Latin text for each of these sections, as well as O rubor sanguinis, discussed below, is available in Newman (1998, 236, 238, and 232).

  16. Clip 7, ‘Narrative - Traveling’ (20:16–12:16): https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxLAaNhbYYiEl_VzrvXv67mccZ55F7o_Mb. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  17. Clip 8, ‘Narrative - Devil’ (39:26–40:25): https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx5R9wIU7YcGk5nOIR2cpE6a_ZyvN4ZW6i. Clip 9, ‘Narrative - Devil II’ (40:56–41:55): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxK5WC2MJKS01euqcgf-Y4qUv_QMY10ZnG. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  18. Clip 10, ‘Narrative - Return to Light’ (41:38–42:20): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxkbgiQnvat91YshYHVrw0pQ3UKSviDirE. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  19. Clip 11, ‘Opening - Suspensions’ (7:08–7:44): https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxydobOSMj3p7MJrEKdkI6aXYSKKAZNN4f. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  20. Clip 12, ‘Solo - Suspensions, Hovering' (18:18–19:17): https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx26thi4W5KWOLjRfAqIj6t1qZMjDmxOMb. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  21. Clip 13, ‘Imagery - Ablaze’ (37:13–37:37): https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx_Ko4A4CYg444cuPCxOMZwFF6ewEsCLJI. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  22. Clip 14, ‘Imagery - Circles, Rotating - Suspensions’ (9:30–10:22): https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx_jnbisXnkwh7gJhRRIiR2GIvB2Ht_srm. Clip 15, ‘Imagery - Circles, Rotating’ (11:18–11:57): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxH5rjuzjjuzH2rBLVZYc4q5aiftGmJMpf. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  23. Moreover, Seeta Chaganti reads the medieval English carole through mouvance: ‘through dance as formalized movement, we can see, or make concrete, the motion in mouvance […] the dance world’s push-and-pull between mastery and abandon provides an embodied shape for the gestures of interchange between manuscript variants’ (2008, 77–78).

  24. Clip 16, ‘Opening - Suspensions’ (7:10–7:46): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxydobOSMj3p7MJrEKdkI6aXYSKKAZNN4f. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  25. Clip 17, ‘Adaptation I’ (29:45–30:09): https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxUxv25qPUK_ciLebfUrbkU7giUaq26oFB. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  26. Clip 18, ‘Shadowing’ (37:38–38:16): https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx6ePOOyQNllU-ojVHxHe_F-F4aeKdt5E1. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  27. Clip 19, ‘Flocking I’ (21:36–22:17): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxPntSgbLeS682LrQqXLWWsbgYHeodEVun. Accessed March 20, 2023.

  28. Clip 20, ‘Leading I’ (15:22–16:10): https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxdCiIjzxC7pF-KlnaXrbhBhSt24GGHKNV. Accessed March 20, 2023.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank everyone who made this very unique performance opportunity possible: the artistic director of the Mostly Medieval Theatre Festival, Dr. Lofton Durham, and the crew of the 2017 MMTF; the artistic directors of Early Music Michigan in 2017, Eric Strand and Ann Marie Boyle; the singers of Early Music Michigan; the instrumentalists that accompanied us; and, most of all, my dancers, Briana Asmus and Amy Russell. I am also grateful to the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, which supported the development of the choreography with a Kalamazoo Artistic Development Initiative grant, and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, which has supported Early Music Michigan with multiple grants over many years. Finally, I would like to thank Kathryn Dickason and everyone at postmedieval.

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    Rebecca Straple-Sovers

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Straple-Sovers, R. Process Essay. ‘A Feather on the breath of God’: Medieval legacies in modern choreography. Postmedieval 14, 593–619 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41280-023-00280-4

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