Changing Light
Will Tuckett
Premiered February 1, 2013, by The Sarasota Ballet
Changing Light
Having previously worked with The Sarasota Ballet in 2010 and 2012 restaging Spielende Kinder, Changing Light marked Will Tuckett’s first ballet commissioned for the Company by Director Iain Webb. While the choreography and look of the ballet didn’t materialize until Tuckett’s arrival in Sarasota, the inspirational spark came months before from Composer and close friend, Jeremy Holland-Smith, whose new and unnamed composition would form the foundation for Changing Light.
“I remember clearly my arrival at the airport on my trip to make Changing Light. Whilst I had a loose plan and structure for the whole piece due to my time to choreograph being very short, there was something niggling, a piece of the creative jigsaw somehow missing that I couldn’t put my finger on.
“As we drove over the Skyway Bridge I played Jeremy’s music again on my headphones and turning to the window looked out over one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen, the Sarasota sunset. The light and sea appeared to merge, the colours turning from sky blue to orange, then pink, then purple. It was both utterly beautiful and totally invigorating and made me feel really good just to be alive. I realized that the missing piece of the jigsaw was the very place itself – Sarasota.”
“Choreographing this piece was pure pleasure. The company approached every rehearsal with such vigour, appetite and desire to dance that I could hardly bear for each day of rehearsals to end. It is this energy and love of dance that is woven into the steps I put together. Then onstage I worked for the first time with Aaron Muhl who provided with lights what I had seen in the sky that very first evening over the sea. I said at the time of making the piece, ‘There’s a feeling that things have not been brilliant lately and we’re all feeling slightly embattled. The only way around it is just to say, shall we do it?'”
“Sadly I don’t think things have changed that much in the world. There are some truly terrible things happening around the globe but we all need to keep faith and have hope in our ability to change the future and, even more, we need to keep our faith and hope in one another. If there’s one thing that for me that can embody that sense of hope, it is dance. That feeling that the moment is ours, right now to move forward in has remained and I believe we should all hold onto that.”
“I am thrilled that Iain has chosen to remount Changing Light and it gives me huge pleasure to be able to work with this wonderful company again.” – Will Tuckett.