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I’m in the middle of supporting the development of Igor and Moreno’s new choreography Karrasekare. The work is at an intriguing stage some seven months from its premiere in Rome: it is far from finished yet is also taking a shape or form that at some point soon will need to be settled upon.
This stage of the development reminded me of part of a 2004 essay by Wendell Berry called Quantity vs Form:
The wheel of human — that is, of fully human — life would consist over the generations of birth, growth, maturity, ripeness, death, and decay.
[The term] ‘Ripeness’ comes from act V, scene 2, of King Lear, in which Edgar says to his father:
Men must endure
Their going hence, even as their coming hither.
Ripeness is all.
It’s a bit of a stretch, but Berry quoting Shakespeare made me think of an art development process, and how it is we recognise its ripeness. I think Igor and Moreno would agree that Karrasekare is still in a period of growth but the team’s understanding of it is starting to mature (as much as one can understand an artwork before or even after it is first seen by a public). My assumption is that Karrasekare will still very much be maturing in October this year: not quite ready to be plucked or picked, but close enough such that an audience might help it ripen.
Quotes from: Berry, W. (2018) The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry. First Counterpoint edition. Berkeley, California: Counterpoint Press
