Local ballet company premieres English professor’s writing
By Amy Geiszler-Jones
 The Metropolitan Ballet of Wichita rehearses "Merlin’s Song," an original full-length ballet written by WSU English professor William Woods, in the forefront, who took a break from writing literary criticism to pen the ballet’s book. The ballet will be performed April 7-8 at WSU. |
While he’s an avid theatergoer, William Woods admits he’s "seen precious few ballets." But come April 7, he plans to get a prime seat for the Metropolitan Ballet of Wichita’s premiere of "Merlin’s Song."
That’s because Woods, an English professor who specializes in Geoffrey Chaucer and medieval literature, took a break from writing literary criticism a few months ago and wrote a ballet instead, at the request of Jill Landrith, MBW’s artistic director and a former student of Woods.
"Merlin’s Song" is a converging of a choreographer who wanted to present a familiar story to appeal to a broader audience and of an English professor who decided to accept what he calls a "fun adventure" into a different type of writing.
While the names of ballets like "Swan Lake" and "Giselle" may be familiar, their story lines often aren’t, says Landrith.
That’s why she wanted to do a full-length ballet about Merlin, the sorcerer who influenced King Arthur’s life and reign.
The story has been the subject of books, musicals and movies.
"That’s when I thought of Dr. Woods, because I’d enjoyed his class so much," says Landrith. In the 1980s she’d taken his medieval English class.
Woods accepted her invitation last summer "to talk about what a ballet about Merlin could be," he says. At the end of their hour-long meeting, Landrith told him she needed someone to write the book.
"What’s the book?" Woods recalls asking.
"And she said the book is what you write for a ballet, and the dancers look at it and the music is set to it, and I said that sounds interesting," Woods says.
"When she asked if I’d write the book, for a moment I thought, ‘will I simplify my life or will I see if this is a fun adventure?’"
The same day of their conversation, Woods sketched out the thoughts they’d shared on a yellow legal pad, basing the story on the four seasons and moving from dawn to darkness.
And then he dropped it in a drawer for a few months, until early this year when he spent four-hour stretches over three days writing more elaborate descriptions of settings and characters, including nymphs and sprites that would usher in Merlin and a rival sorceress, Morgan le Fey. His finished work was six pages of single-spaced type that portrayed seven scenes.
"Never having written a ballet, I wasn’t sure how to write it," Woods admits. "Clearly Jill did the choreography. All I did was tell a story, and I found myself imagining it in scenes. What I did was write a series of pretty elaborate stage directions. For ballet, you don’t need to write dialogue, but the setting is pretty important and I needed to imply the stages in the story of Arthur and Merlin. I thought key scenes might give it emotional depth and a sense of movement."
The ballet starts with a scene full of mist, with Merlin coming for the baby Arthur, promised to him by Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon. It moves through Arthur’s life as he’s guided by Merlin, including scenes of Camelot. Morgan and her son Mordred add a sense of conflict, and the ballet ends with Morgan holding the stage, as Arthur has died and Merlin has been frozen in a cave of ice. Landrith has set the ballet to Gustav Mahler’s moody 1st Symphony.
Landrith says because of financial limitations she wasn’t able to implement some of Woods’ set and scenery changes, but was "tickled with the collaboration."
The production will involve about 60 dancers, with the youngest being 9 years old. Sean Duus of the Kansas City Ballet will be the featured guest artist, portraying King Arthur.
This isn’t the first time Woods has helped a former student in a creative endeavor.
"About 10 years ago, another former student wanted me to narrate some Middle English while her classmates did a mime of some of ‘The Canterbury Tales.’ It was a directing project for her in the theater." He dressed up in black velvet, pretending to be Chaucer, reciting the English poet’s most famous works.
While Woods enjoyed the experience of writing a ballet, he doesn’t plan to change his writing genre.
"One’s opportunity to write a ballet in this world is occasional, and surely once you’ve done it and it’s a wonderful experience, you feel like you want to go onto something else."
"Merlin’s Song" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. April 7 and 2 p.m. April 8 in Miller Concert Hall. For ticket information, call 978-3233.
