Work Details
Grand Duo
Composer
Lou Harrison
Music
Grand Duo for Violin and Piano
Costume Design
Susan Ruddie
Lighting Design
Michael Chybowski
Premiere Date
February 16, 1993
Premiere Venue
Fine Arts Center
University of Massachusetts
Premiere Location
Amherst, MA
Number of Dancers
14
Details
“The movement looks as if it’s been hewn from stone. The 14 dancers appear first as some primitive bas relief - a dense pattern of fiercely angled arms and thrusting bodies - which turn into an atavistic battle where hands fling curses and feet drum incantatory patterns...Finally they swarm into a circle, their feet juddering the floor, their hands slapping against their groins as they tread the stage. The build-up of tension is terrifying, its release leaves you shaking.”
-Judith Mackrell, The Guardian (U.K.)
“A tribal celebration danced around a metaphorical campfire. Dancers threw their fists in the air, pounded their feet in unison, sat cross-legged in a circle and shook their heads at the gods. Those who doubt that dance can be intoxicatingly thrilling should see it.”
-Robin Updike, The Seattle Times
“…one of the most viscerally charged passages in the annals of modern dance.”
-The Boston Globe
“…truly one of the masterpieces of the late 20th century.”
-The Guardian (U.K.)
“A fierce energy eats up space in a frenzied momentum which culminates in a transcendent moment of power. Astonishing stuff.”
-The Times (U.K.)