Galantheae, 2022

Galantheae created for 25 dancers of Ballet West, is an abstract piece that draws on the imagery of the Galanthus flower aka the snowdrop to honour the strength and resilience of dancers. These small, seemingly delicate, elegant flowers have sharp, steely tips enabling them to burrow through the frozen earth to blossom, the first flowers to signal the end of harsh winter. This is a determined, resolute plant, as described in the Ted Hughes poem which was an inspiration for this work. The snowdrop embodies the duality of strength/elegance which is at the heart of dance. Visually the white tutus of the piece evoke the bell of the snowdrops, the music of Chopin and Reijseger contrast to echo the same duality. Finally, in the classification of plants, the genre Galantheae is inspiringly known as a “tribe”.