Face of America: Glacier National Park
Where: Wolf Trap Filene Center
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Info: $10 to $38; 877-965-3872; wolftrap.org
Face of America: Glacier National Park is Wolf Trap’s newest installment in the highly acclaimed series celebrating America’s beautiful and diverse national parks. This world-premiere performance boasts the same kinds of ooh and ah factors that have distinguished the previous shows and thrilled both live and television audiences.
Terrence Jones, president and CEO of Wolf Trap, has made it his mission to present the magnificence of our national parks through the eyes of artists native to each area. In anticipation of Glacier National Park’s centennial in 2010, he has spent three years creating a multimedia production that incorporates photography, dance, music, poetry and Native American culture in Montana
The majesty of the park is captured on film projected by high definition video on 60-foot screens, a backdrop to “The Sun Road,” a ballet created for the occasion by choreographer Trey McIntyre. The dancers on stage will interact with themselves in a 20-minute dance filmed on site in the park.
“In this contemporary piece, Trey looks at how human nature impacts the park,” Jones says. “Often people don’t realize that their behavior has led to the fact that the glacier is receding. The dancers are costumed in formal attire to show the contrast of how people live on a day-to-day basis and emphasize why there must be a balance between humans and nature.
“Sun Point, where they were filmed, is consistently windy. On the day they were being filmed, the dancers had to fight with 30 mile-per-hour winds that sometimes gusted to 50 miles per hour. This illustrates the dramatic power of nature and man struggling against the impact.”
Montana natives provide the other elements of the production. Blackfeet Indian singer/songwriter Jack Gladstone opens the evening with the Blackfeet blessing. Later on, he and cowboy singer Rob Quist, who grew up on a ranch, will perform together and separately.
Jazz pianist Philip Aaberg entered Harvard on a Leonard Bernstein scholarship after working with local bands in his native Chester, Montana. The prolific composer will play selections from “Live from Montana,” his Grammy-nominated album containing a suite of his Montana-inspired compositions.
The second half of the production opens with Victor Charlo reading his poems. He grew up on the Flathead Reservation and studied to be a Jesuit priest before devoting his life to writing and working for Native American causes. After suffering a massive stroke several years ago, he re-learned reading and writing skills and this year published his first book of poetry. After each poem read in his native Salish, his daughter will give the English translation.
“His readings will be very poignant,” Jones says. “The entire program will affect the audience in many ways. I want them to absorb and understand the beauty and grandeur of a sacred space, one that is indescribably beautiful and meaningful to Native Americans. I hope they go away feeling wonderful about this unique national park and the pleasure of being at Wolf Trap to share it with others.”
