Mark Morris

Mark Morris is one of the rare American choreographers who direct opera. That’s why the Metropolitan Opera‘s May production of Gluck's “Orfeo ed Euridice,” directed and choreographed by Mark Morris, awaits eager anticipation. Prior to Morris, Balanchine, who directed “The Rake‘s Progress” in 1953, was the last choreographer at The Met. Morris choreographed “Platée” for New York City Opera, as well as productions in the U.K. and highly praised full-evening dances created during his tenure at La Monnaie.

Otherwise, few American choreographers have directed opera for major stages, among them Trisha Brown, whose La Monnaie production of “Orphée travelled to the U.S.”

Why are choreographers who direct opera so rare in the U.S.? In no small part because dance is an impoverished art in America. There is a lack of support on all levels that stems, in part, from a Puritan suspicion of culture as borderline immoral, with dance being the most corporal. Add to that a conservative administration and a capitalist system geared to making “products” to trade and display as tokens of wealth and taste, as in the visual arts. One of dance‘s chief charms is its ephemeral nature – a refutation of a ...