----------------------------------------------------- APRIL 1998 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: http://www.yessng.net/April98JA.html Earth Dance: The Civic Ballet brings Jon Anderson's Musical Vision to life By Glen Starkey Jon Anderson can add another accomplishment to his list: the lead singer of the popular 70s and 80s prog-rock band Yes has written his first ballet. It will be debuted in SLO this week by the Civic Ballet under the direction of Lori Lee Silvaggio. How did Anderson, who moved to SLO County two years ago, come into this project? "Very simple: I met Lori Silvaggio on the street one day near the studio where the ballet practices," explained Anderson, currently on tour in Europe, via phone. "We just bumped into each other and she told me how much she loved my music. She explained that the ballet was doing a program to a song I had written two years earlier and she invited me to come up to the studio to see the company dance to 'Under the Sun'. Well, seeing them perform to it, what they were doing -- it was an exceptional feeling. As soon as I saw them dancing I knew I wanted to do more of this. So I told Lori that I'd love to do a project with her." As a part of Yes, Anderson has achieved worldwide fame. Over the years the band has seen dozens of personnel changes and in-fighting among the members, but they were reconciled--again--a couple of years ago when they played (another) set of reunion concerts in the Fremont Theatre. The live recordings of the concerts signaled another round of Yes touring--a thrilling prospect for fans of the band. But Anderson, never one to rest on his laurels, continues to be a prolific solo performer and artist. Since the first demise of Yes in 1980, Anderson has released more than a dozen solo recordings. One of those was "earthmotherearth," and it provided the basis for the new ballet by the same name. "'Earthmotherearth' is really about loving the Earth, the goddess, the energy of the Earth Mother," said Anderson. "I thing it's sort of a forgotten power, this female energy. In ancient times, the female was the higher being than the male, the more evolved being. And so this ballet is a dance production honoring the Earth." To create the prerecorded ballet music, Anderson collaborated with local sound-engineer wizard John Bartelt, whom Anderson met when he turned to the Cal Poly Music Department for help scoring a symphony he'd written. Bartelt, then a part of the Cal Poly lecture poool, was handed the assignment. "It was a sort of ironical," said Bartelt, "because Yes has been my favorite band for about 25 years, so this was a real coup for me, just a serendipitous, wonderful thing. If I did a good job on the scoring then the reward was that I could meet Jon Anderson." Bartlet did do a "good job" and did meet Anderson, who had Bartelt collaborate on two of Anderson's solo recordings. When the ballet project came up, Bartlet was tapped for the job of taking the original "earthmotherearth" multi-track recordings and remixing and embellishing them. Adding strings, choir, and more vocal tracks, Bartlet created a lush sonic backdrop for the ballet. "Most of the material comes from 'earthmotherearth' which Jon recorded 10 years ago," said Bartelt. "There are other little bits from four or five other albums, and then some new songs,too." "Some of the material was written during a six-month stay in Maui," said Anderson. "I went with my wife, Jane, and I started writing music. We had a beautiful place, very private. I put a microphone in the garden which allowed the birds to sing along with us as we were recording some new music. It's really quite remarkable when that happens naturally." So is this a traditional ballet? "If you think of ballet as people in tutus and point shoes, then you'll be surprised," said Bartelt. "This is nothing like that. I'd say most of the music is folk rock, but there are classical elements too. There are many, many styles. It's a little bit of everything. I think that's one of the problems with Jon. His only drawback is that he's so varied. If you go to a record store and look at the Jon Anderson section, you'll see he has rock albums and hip-hop, jazz, classical, Cletic, Spanish, Latin, folk -- he's so different on every record. It also seems rather a coup for the SLO Civic Ballet, a local company celebrating its 20th anniversary, to debut Anderson's first foray into ballet music. According to Silvaggio, this is really a rock ballet, with dancers performing on pointe, barefoot, and even in combat boots. It seems Anderson's clout could have seen the ballet's debut in a larger urban area. Instead, SLO Town residents will have first crack at viewing what may turn into a touring production. The Civic Ballet has already been approached by a promoter who wants to take the show on the road. "There's no doubt that if Jon had wanted to take this to a bigger ballet company, he would have had the ear of directors of the best ballets. He's Jon Andeson, " said Silvaggio. "I feel very lucky. Working with him as an artist and as a person has put me in awe of him. I've always loved his music, but I never realized what an amazing orchestral and symphonic sense he has. "Truly, the making of 'earthmotherearth' is a travail of pure love," continued Silvaggio. "The four movements to which Jon and I narrowed our task represent four different passages through which one can cherish our earthly excursion: appreciation of the connection of the physical world and the conscious world in 'Spirit'; appreciation of the physical energy of the planet in 'Spherical Support'; appreciation of the painful, wounding side of existence, and the healing results, in 'Scars and Freedom'; and finally, appreciation of human enlightenment in 'The Meadow and the Mirror.'" "I'm so proud that Lori has decided to take it on," said Anderson, "and the dancers are the best. I've traveled around and seen a lot of dance companies from all over the world, and [the Civic Ballet of SLO] is every bit as good as a lot of professional companies. They're more professional than the professionals because they love to dance. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com