The new year will be a mixed bag for Mosaic Dance Theater Company.
While a major production is being planned for the fall, the road getting there may be bumpy. Annually, the company stages a large production multiple times in New Jersey and New York City venues for paying customers, but its bread-and-butter is school performances for youngsters and the introduction of Mediterranean and northern Africa folkloric dance and culture to them.
“There will be less school activity than we had hoped,” said Celeste Varricchio, the MDTC founder and director. “We do a lot of school performances, but I think their budgets are shrinking. They’re looking for pre-pandemic pricing. That’s not the case. The pandemic proved artists are essential workers.”
But the company has been at work on 2026 productions, foremost is its fall performance of “Cassandra: An On-Going Tragedy.”
“We announced this in November,” Varricchio said. “When the play was sent to me, I told the playwright it needed dance. Rehearsals will begin in mid-February.”
The playwright is Ruth Cantrell whose storytelling combines narrative with song and dance.
“Ruth and I go back a long way to the Dallas Dance Center,” Varricchio said. “We shared time on-stage and off. But time passes, friends move away and lose touch. Then in 2019, I went back to Dallas for a celebration of Paul Baker, the theater genius who guided the dance center. Ruth was there and we reconnected.”
In the myth, Cassandra, a Trojan princess, spurns the lustful advances of Apollo. Taking vengeance, Apollo curses her by not making anyone ever believe what she says. The curse is especially destructive because Cassandra had the gift of prophecy. Her countrymen ignored her warnings to not accept the mysterious gift of a wooden horse discovered outside the locked gates of Troy.
At the time, the city was under siege from the Achaeans or Greeks, some who were hidden inside the horse. Once inside the enclosed city, they emerged and unlocked the gates for their compatriots. Consequently, Troy fell.
“The magnificent city of Troy was destroyed, its men and boys slaughtered and its women sent as slaves and concubines to the victorious Achaeans,” Varricchio noted.
The narrative will depict the presence of evils throughout history, tracing back to Pandora. In Greek mythology, she is the first woman, who, in another act of godly revenge, unwittingly opens a box containing all the evils inflicted on the human race.
“It compares Greek myth to modern times,” Varricchio said of “Cassandra: An On-Going Tragedy.” “It’s a series of vignettes and monologues. We have a robust group of seven dancers who will be performing.”
The show will be directed by Varricchio with choreography by Samara Adell, the MDTC director of dance. Original music will be by Michael V. Ficocelli. There will be an Essex County performance, in Montclair, at the First Congregational Church.
“But we also have our school performances,” Varricchio continued. “One is at Lehigh University, in May. These performances are called ‘Caravan to Cairo’ and we’ve added a new story. It’s titled, ‘Amir Misr — Prince of Egypt.’ This prince is a dancing horse. The costume came from Cairo. Hopefully, we’ll have school bookings before the Lehigh performance. Our ‘Caravan to Cairo’ is a travelogue of dance. It keeps children’s attention with brightly colored costumes and movement. It’s about 45 to 60 minutes long and goes by very quickly.”
Lehigh University is in Bethlehem, PA.
Varricchio said that individual donations are so far a little better this year than last, but grants remain highly competitive.
“Many foundations have reallocated their grants to social causes,” she said.
Varricchio said that if anyone would like to see her company perform, there is a library of programs at: www.MosaidDanceTheaterCo.org.
Seen here from the 2022 Mosaic Dance Theater Company performance of ‘Troy: Women and War,’ Cassandra, cursed to always tell the truth to non-believers, implores her heedless compatriots to not accept the Trojan horse. The company will present the evergreen myth of Cassandra in a new narrative this fall.
