Lar Lubovitch's Othello: A Dance in Three Acts by American Ballet Theatre

Creating Othello: A Dance

• 💡 The creation of the full-length dance began with an idea taking form in early spring, followed by a detailed scenario for the American Ballet Theatre director.
• 📝 Choreographer Lar Lubovitch collaborated with a composer using elaborate "storyboards" that detailed each scene's duration, emotional temperature, and symbolic weather.
• ⏳ The rehearsal process for the entire work was intensive, involving nine weeks of dedicated practice, with the final act being a "do or die" push.
• 🛠️ In subsequent remountings, the choreographer has refined and altered the work, including deleting 20 minutes of original material and adjusting music and character actions.

Choreographic Philosophy

• 🎭 Lar Lubovitch differentiates his work as a "dance in three acts" from traditional ballet, noting that ballet originated from 14th-century court etiquette and decorum.
• 🌱 Modern dance, in contrast, emerged in the early 20th century, focusing on expressing emotions through physical shapes rather than prescribed looks, influenced by figures like Martha Graham.
• 🧠 This approach, rooted in the Delsarte technique, aims to find the physical shape of emotional conditions that are universally understood.
• 💃 Lubovitch's "Othello" is designed to tell its story almost entirely through dance movement, emphasizing the shape of emotions with minimal pantomime.

The Role of Dancers

• 🤝 The choreography is significantly shaped by the individual dancers performing the roles, requiring a collaborative effort between choreographer and performer.
• 🔍 Lubovitch casts dancers who inherently emulate the characters, then designs movements to see if they convey his intended message.
• 🌟 He often discovers the final form of a movement only when a dancer shows it back to him, highlighting the importance of their interpretation.

Act III Scene I Preview

• 🗓️ The American Ballet Theatre's "Othello" will be performed for eight shows at the David H. Koch Theater from March 6th through the 21st.
• 💔 In Act III, Scene I, Iago has successfully manipulated Othello by planting Desdemona's handkerchief on Cassio, leading Othello to believe Desdemona has betrayed him.
• 🎭 The scene utilizes a scrim to project "thought bubbles" that visually illustrate Iago's fabricated descriptions of Desdemona and Cassio's supposed affair.
• ⚡ Othello, overwhelmed by Iago's torment, suffers a seizure-like collapse, reflecting Shakespeare's depiction of his extreme stress and despair.