John Crawford, Videographer
July 10, 2002

I really like the idea of the inner voyage, and the notion that "Aeneas
explores the world he left behind and a world evolving a new spiritual
DNA..."

Also I'm very interested in working with the notion of the "ancient DNA"
that civilizations leave behind. In the soil and the air and the walls and
streets of Rome there exists human DNA left behind by tribes that lived
there (or passed through like Aeneas) thousands of years ago. Like all
DNA, it contains the genetic instructions for life - the "source code" for
humans like Aeneas and Cassandra.

The name of the festival in English is "Enzymes". Thinking on the cellular
level, enzymes are fascinating molecules. The purpose of their existence
to trigger change in other molecules, but whatever incredible
transformation may happen to the other molecules, the enzymes themselves
are unchanged by the process.

As well as ancient DNA, a place like Rome has "ancient enzymes" in its
soil and air and walls and streets, continually causing change for
thousands of years, but unchanged themselves. As we move through the city,
these ancient molecules pass through our bodies. What transformations are
waiting for us in the ancient enzymes? What messages are contained in the
ancient DNA we absorb? How will the cells in our bodies respond?
Scientists think that life may have started with a single molecule
containing DNA (genetic instructions) plus an enzyme capable of triggering
self-replication. This ancient DNA and ancient enzyme may still be present
in the world (and in our cells).

These are some of the ideas that will inform the visuals we will be
developing for the performance. Lisa and I will be in Rome a couple of
weeks before the performance to begin working with the dancers. During
that time we will be gathering video sequences that reflect the soil and
the air and the walls and streets of Rome. Some of this video will include
the dancers. We will process these sequences in software to create
abstract video imagery to accompany the performance. It will be combined
with some other imagery that we will be working on before the trip. I'm
hoping that we will be able to work with some students from the IED on
this process. Whoever is involved, the idea is to have our video imagery
crystallize in the days before the performance in response to whatever
happens to us while we are in Rome.

I expect that we will have two video projectors in the performance. One
projector will play the video imagery described above. The other projector
will play video sequences being created by Luigi and his students over the
next two months. We may decide to project them on the same screen, so they
partially overlap, or we may have two separate screens.

Our video setup will also include one or more live cameras on stage, and
the imagery from those cameras will be processed and incorporated into the
video projections.

Lisa and I want to work closely with any composers who are interested in
working with us to find ways to achieve better integration of the live
dance and imagery with the music. The best way to start this process would
be for composers to send us .mp3 files - even rough or unfinished would be
fine. Once we hear them we can respond with our ideas for movement and
visuals and we can take off from there.

Looking forward to responses from everyone!

John Gilbert, Composer/Writer
July 10, 2002

Even though Aeneas undergoes an inner journey, it will have appearances of a journey in the world and the universe...and there seems to be a struggle emerging between Good and Evil----well, not Evil, per se...but the Dark Forces that would prevent Aeneas from returning to Rome. His return to Rome requires a re-mapping of the world...and our place in the universe. This is why Aeneas appears to traverse the world...for his journey is a mapping of new boundaries and new dimensions of human consciousness. But as Aeneas attempts this he encounters ancient impediments....Hades and his cohorts... (these dark figures have been constants in the consciousness of humanity throughout Time...)

Perhaps the Big Bang was the original DNA and was just the universe replicating itself. We are all the substance of that original material that formed the universe. It is important to note that DNA is not just replication but also the creation of the new as DNAs combine. Perhaps this reveals the source of creativity. The entwining of information as DNA strands suggests a metaphor for the creative act.

Aeneas returning to Rome might be in search of that ancient DNA that first formed human consciousness and rescued humanity from extinction and evolution itself is but a parallel to the expansion of the universe...

Lisa Naugle, Choreographer, Dancer
July 10. 2002

During the voyage of Aeneas there is an opposition between two different types of activity - the inner journey and the actual progression across space and time. Both of these have abstract references and are symbolic of belonging to something...someone...a place...people... In a sense, the whole production is an account of these opposing activities. Perhaps in the end there is less opposition, no difficulty or obstacles..but rather a kind of simplicity...an essential quality that emerges and is reflected in a group of people (real onstage or as abstract imagery) and in sound. People, were "witnesses to Aeneas' activities - his voyages - but these entities are separate from the what he has encountered yet they have been there all along. Cassandra has multiple roles -- she is a physical part of the activity yet in the end more of a spirit - Aeneas recognizes that she has inspired him to challenge his beliefs/reasonings/ the order of things in general. In the end...in Rome... Cassandra emerges as one out of the "witnesses" Cassandra -- actions and sounds in parallel joining with Aeneas.

John Gilbert
July 10, 2002

It might be a real twist if Aeneas discovers when he enters Rome that he is actually a clone of the original Aeneas..

John Gilbert
July 11, 2002

Remember that Cassandra refused to flee Troy with Aeneas because she saw that his destiny was to become a hero, and she could not love a hero.... Aeneas could not escape that destiny...yet now he knows what he lost when he fulfilled that path... How can he transcend the role of a hero...into the understanding that we are all heroes and thus the distinction that once held no longer holds? Wasn't that part of what we learned on September 11th...many "everyday" people became "heroes" because now being a hero is not an identity but action in the face of adversity?

Wendy Luck, Composer/Flutes, Vocals
July 11, 2002

just read John Crawford's response to your website work involving in the
journey, an inward search, a new spiritual DNA working. This is sooooo
fascinating to me, in that the spiritual modalities that I work in involve
this very process...getting the the root, getting on the cellular level and
dissolving old patterns which in turn literally changes the DNA!!! In the
piece I wrote with Ron called The Heart, I created the text.

It is as follows - 3 sentences that I work with. They are:

The heart closes like a nocturnal flower.
The heart opens in summer.
And all things flutter and pass.

These feel to me like internal search material.