Lilith
- Performance
Lilith is a study of the story of the first woman, created as Adam’s equal, who rebelled against Adam and fled Eden. This character is explored as a figure from ancient texts who has been re-envisioned and reclaimed in modern feminist thought. It begins with creation. In a space dark as a womb, Lilith appears to be suspended in and surrounded by this pre-creation environment. She begins to take shape, and we follow her through her early history, her conflict with Adam, her escape. We view facets of her through the lenses that history, art and religion have viewed her – as the serpent who offers the apple to Eve, as a winged creature, a temptress, as an aggrieved mother a thousand times over. We view these reflections through the mirror of Lilith’s own mind, as she lives and re-lives her own memories. The piece culminates with Lilith in her fully realized form, a combination of all of these facets – a dragon-like woman, magical and unconstrained.
Where is Lilith
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Wendy Jehlen
Wendy Jehlen’s career has been marked by international explorations, study and creative collaboration. She received her Bachelor’s degree in ritual and performance from Brown University and her Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on performance and religion in the former Persian world. Wendy engages in collaborations across languages, culture, media and genres. Her work questions the boundaries that we imagine between ourselves, and seeks to break down these imagined walls through an embodied practice of radical empathy. This practice takes her around the world to conduct workshops, collaborations and performances which she calls collectively Dance Diplomacy. Her unique approach to choreography incorporates elements of Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Capoeira, Kalaripayattu, West African dance, Butoh, and a wide-range of Contemporary movement forms. Her emotionally powerful choreography has been created and performed in the US, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Italy, India, Japan, Mali, Mozambique, Palestine and Turkey. Works include The Women Gather (2022); Conference of the Birds (2018); Entangling (2015), a duet with Burkinabe choreographer Lacina Coulibaly inspired by Quantum Entanglement; The Deep (2015), a work for 25 dancers created in São Paulo, Brazil, Lilith (2013), a solo on the first woman; The Knocking Within (2012), an evening-length duet on a disintegrating relationship; Forest (2010), a journey through the archetypal forest; He Who Burns (2006), a trio on the figure of Iblis (Satan); Breathing Space (2003), a collaboration with Japanese choreographer Hikari Baba in Tokyo; Crane (2002), based on images from Japanese Buddhist poetry; and Haaaa (2002), inspired by the experience of childbirth. Jehlen has received support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (2017-2018), Theater Communications Group (2018), the Japan Foundation (2017), the Boston Foundation (2012, 2017, 2020), New England Foundation for the Arts (2016-2021), Network of Ensemble Theaters (2016-2021), the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (2015-2020), the Boston Center for the Arts Choreographers’ Residency program (2010, 2015), the Artist Fellowship Program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (2003, 2012), the American Institute of Indian Studies (2001, 2013), the Boston Dance Alliance (2013), the National School of Drama (2006, 2011, 2013, 2020), the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (2011), the Fulbright program (2005-2006), the National Endowment for the Arts (2005, 2019, 2020), the Tokyo American Center (2002), the Puffin Foundation (2001), and the Ford Foundation/Arts International (1996), among others. She is a Fulbright Scholar and a Fulbright Specialist, an Arts Envoy of the US Dept of State, she is on the speaker roster of African Regional Services and has received Public Affairs grants from US Embassies in Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Japan, China, Mexico and South Africa.
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