Eternity, Desire, and Other Predicaments (2007)

Choreography: Carrie Diamond

Music: Dark Love for violin and piano by José Luis Greco

Costumes: Ann Bruice

Lighting: Patricia L. Frank

First Performance: September 8, 2007

First AD&M Performance: September 8, 2007

*Freely adapted from the 1987 film, Wings of Desire. Filmed just before The Wall came down, the film thus reflects symbolically and metaphysically a divided Germany.
This ballet was made possible by a generous donation by Carol Skinner and family

Scene 1: Damiel and Cassiel descend into the city, silently lifting people out of their everyday cares and despair.

Scene 2: Angels discuss predicaments of spirituality vs. mortality. Damiel: “Instead of forever hovering above I’d like to feel a weight grow in me to end the infinity and to tie me to earth.” Cassiel: “Do no more than look! Assemble, testify, preserve! Remain spirit! Keep your distance. Keep your word”. They are interrupted by a couple in the throes of personal turmoil.

Scene 3: Damiel falls in love. His desire to join Marion on earth strengthens and grows within him.

Scene 4: Cassiel helps the dying woman experience a peaceful death, releasing her fondest memories… “The morning light. The child’s eyes. The swim in the waterfall. The spots of the first drops of rain. The sun. The bread and wine. Hopping. Easter. The veins of leaves. The blowing grass. The color of stones…”

Scene 5: The angels meet again and dance together as friends. Damiel tells Cassiel he will give up being an angel. “I’m going to enter the river…Forward in the ford of time, in the ford of death. We are not yet born, so let’s descend. To look is not to look from on high, but at eye level.”

Scene 6: Damiel, now fully human, sees color for the first time, feels the power, uncertainty and immediacy of life. Cassiel, ever watchful and vigilant, keeps close watch on him and the rest. To be continued.

I would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Colin Gardner, Professor of Art, UCSB, for his help in the development of this ballet and for freely sharing his expansive knowledge and perspective of Wim Wenders’s, Wings of Desire.

Les Petits Ballets Santa Barbara : September, 2007

Center Stage Theater

World Premiere

The Angels
Eduardo Cueto as Damiel and Christina Sanchez as Cassiel

The Mortals
Colleen Bialas as Marion, David Eck, Ellen O’Connell, and Denise Woods