Choreography for Lullaby & Doina

Choreographer: Olivier Wevers

Olivier Wevers' choreography is set to Osvaldo Golijov’s Lullaby and Doina from the composer’s film music for The Man Who Cried, depicting the doomed young love of a Jewish woman and a Roma man. This marks MOR's second dance commission from Wevers, following the world premiere of his original choreography to the jazz-ballet La Revue de Cuisine in November 2015.

Artists : Olivier Wevers, choreograher; Whim W'Him Seattle Contemporary Dance

Osvaldo Golijov's comments on Lullaby & Doina:

"This piece starts with a set of variations on a Yiddish lullaby that I composed for Sally Potter's film The Man Who Cried, set to function well in counterpoint to another important music theme in the soundtrack: Bizet's Aria Je Crois Entendre Encore, from The Pearl Fishers. In her film Sally explores the fate of Jews and Gypsies in Europe during the mid-years of the 20th century, through a love story between a Jewish young woman and a Gypsy young man. The lullaby metamorphoses into a dense and dark doina (a gypsy slow, rubato genre) featuring the lowest string of the violas. The piece ends in a fast gallop boasting a theme that I stole from my friends of the wild gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks."