Stonecutter (1993)

The Massachusetts Cultural Council gave a grant to Israeli composer Yuval Ron, and myself for "Myth, Sound, and Motion." We worked with third-graders in the Jackson-Mann School, an urban public school. Half were in a bilingual Vietnamese class; half were English speaking, mostly African American students. Using the Vietnamese myth of The Stonecutter, the students responded to motifs in the story through musical, movement, and visual art media. After many workshops and videotaping, we used the children's source material to develop our own musical composition and choreography which was then performed by the professional dancers in Boston Dance Collective..

Review

Also an innovative piece...
In this dance one man represents the stonecutter/dreamer and three others create an atmosphere and images through movement that obviously began with sources other than dance technique. Even as refined and expanded on by the choreographer, the dance steps are different. The three men stomp and fume, chase and fling inflated plastic bags as if in a pillow fight, lift and manipulate each other in slow motion, as if in a dream. The score incorporates children’s voices in a way that reminds the audience of the origins of the dance.

Diane C. Grant The Boston Globe, June 26, 1993