"Macondo Swing" is my second ballet. It is based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "One Hundred Years of Solitude".
"Macondo Swing" is an epic 45-minute work which consists of 111 episodes. At any given place in the score, anywhere from one to seven different episodes unfold simultaneously.
"Macondo Swing" does not tell a linear story but rather is a composition that presents a variety of images and characters, which unfold simultaneously. No character, no musical material is repeated. There is no plot. There is no cause-effect relationship between musical episodes. Altogether, these musical images form a circle, most dense at the center. In the end, the circle is destroyed by an outer force. The novel and the ballet are conceptually and structurally the same.
The musical episodes bear three different 'signs of place': episodes #1-52 are 52 different expositions, episodes #53-95 are 43 different developments, and episodes #96-110 are 15 different conclusions. Episode #111 is based on the famous Gregorian chant Dies Irae. It keeps the form of the ballet open.
Choreography should not copy musical structures. It should develop its own counterpoint forms which will bring additional dimensions to the ballet.
Synchronous music enables the simultaneous co-existence of different time-frames, styles, tempi and forms.
The musical form of "Macondo Swing" is also reminiscent of a crystal, where different surfaces and designs can be observed simultaneously. By "turning the crystal", the musical form unfolds.
Cover
Cast
Plan
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
