James Sewell, the choreographer of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" always said I could do something different with the village people...so this year, with some American Sign Language (ASL)classes under my belt, I launch out! One of the villagers will be a little drummer girl who will be accompanied by Amahl's pipe, the hidden drum of the page, who ministers to the kings, and Amahl's widowed mother, who needs a little cheer in her life. The kings even get in on the act and give Amahl a lift when (s)he cannot manage the moves with cane. Hope you enjoy this little augmentation of the storyline and the only true dance segment without lyrics...but it will have its own little tale.... those who are deaf in the audience and understand ASL will know that part if I have "glossed" the sentencing correctly. Do you know what glossing is? It is restructuring the sentence structure for simplicity and the limitations of sign vocabulary...full sentences might be abbreviated to a shorter phrase with main ideas. In a culture of text-ers and internet, ( think how awesome those technologies are for deaf people?!) sign languages have always been their own code, perhaps the first shorthand, literally! (pun intended). I posted on article on AMAHL for the Houston Deaf Network, and have tried to inform that community, and those churches that serve such populations, to bring their congregants for a wonderful show.... a great outing for families, groups, troupes, Mentoring programs and senior citizens....a great intro to ballet and opera for our youngest, for it is under an hour!!!!made for tv, right?
I have also been haunted by the comments of a young lad, who in our post performance Q&A, "when's the sequel?" I thought that prospect delightful and can imagine many little rivulets of narrative that come bubbling up...who knows? I might attempt it, or at the very least a prologue or epilogue in years to come. What do you think happened before or after? If you haven't seen it, you will have to come first, and let me know how you envision the context or bookends of this sweet homespun tale.
