I believe that music acts as a partner to dance. In The Grass is Always Greener… one finds an overlapping of layers so that dance, music, and the poetry of the lyrics intertwine to create the multifaceted and profoundly human characters you see on stage.  However, even without understanding the lyrics the audience can still connect to the rhythm and melody of the music. The musical accompaniment for The Grass… helps to create the dynamic characters and vivid scenes that unfold onstage.

Music helps to create the characters a dancer brings to life.  It influences the dancer, the choreographer, and the audience, building a unique atmosphere around the stage.  In my work, music acts upon one’s deep emotions to help express the different states and stages the characters develop through.  For me, music adds layers and texture to a dance, helping to define the characters that appear on stage.  For this reason I have chosen a selection of Argentine folk, Italian folk, Opera and popular music whose lyrics and rhythmic structure express the deep nuances of the characters I create. For example, to refer to courtship customs, I have included elements of the traditional Zamba dance, which use flirtatious gestures of the dancers’ handkerchiefs.  The movements the dancers perform are reflected in the rhythmic base of the folk music accompanying the dance.  I believe it is through folk music that a people’s daily social activities become ritualized and made into tradition.    

Throughout The Grass… the lyrics raise questions about the individuals we see on stage, enriching the complexity of the characters.  In the opening section of the dance we hear from the poetry of Gabriela Mistral, “In a country without a name I am going to die.”  Immediately we begin to feel the fate of these people standing before us.  They are homeless and hopeless.  Their country has lost its name and they have lost their roots.  Without roots they are slowly drifting from their pasts and wandering without purpose.  They are trapped in a waiting room-- waiting to gain entry to a new country and a new life, waiting for the homeland they once knew to reappear.