Alpheus & Arethusa

A performance for dance, theatre and music

Prelude
Alpheus rules over and gives life to the valley, as if drawn.

From afar, his ceaseless flowing and struggling can scarcely be seen.

The earth, inexorable, guards his boundaries and threatens his purity.

Along the banks it contains him; in his depths it looms above him.

On the shore, that day, Arethusa was freeing herself in the mud. She cast it off as it took shape within her.

At last she opened a face.

The mask of mud that had held it fell into the water, giving rise to a great melody.

Alpheus caught it and saw it.

The Mask of Mud
What a wondrous thing!

For the first time, Alpheus discovered in the mud a harmonious form, a negative of beauty.

Alpheus gazed into it, searching and reflecting.

Though it was perhaps no more than a trick of nature, he resolved to explore the symmetry the mask suggested.

Nowhere else did he find anything comparable.

Vexed, he coiled in upon himself as the mask dissolved and sank into his depths.

Her Perfect Image
And yet Arethusa was there, ready to immerse herself entirely in him, seduced by the still and limpid waters.

Soon she danced, and played with them.

As she moved, she revealed and shaped her perfect image.

And still Alpheus twisted upon himself, lost in thoughts of hope and disappointment.

Troubled Waters
A call, a pinch, a tickle stirred the river. At first Alpheus chose to ignore the irritation.

Growing impatient, he began to coil his way upstream.

There he turned to stone: the harmony he had sought unfolded before him, within him, and within him it stirred, ever more beautiful.

He drew himself small to contemplate her.

But his taut presence unsettled her light dancing.

She grew agitated, and Alpheus reacted in turn.

The waters, suddenly disturbed, frightened Arethusa, who tore herself away from him.

Alpheus lost her, and would not accept it.

The Unfinished Embrace
Beside himself, the river burst its banks, overwhelming the earth that stood against him.

Having become other, he pursued her so swiftly that he reached her.

Close to her, he wished to hold her gently, but embrace after embrace he found only himself.

The End
Clouded, as on waking, he found the end, and the moon.

United in Oblivion
Beyond everything, outside all things, far from logic, the two found one another again, dancing, fluid, so close as to seem twins, so distinct as to appear symmetrical.

Oblivion pervaded them and waited for them; they, for oblivion.

Forever they were named together.

Daniele Marranca