ABOUT THE SHOW:

Playing striking music from Latin America, Spirit came full circle as they explored themes of Life, Death, and New Life. This performance drew upon the ancient understanding of the many cultures, but especially the Mayans that life is a perpetual cycle. From Life to Death to New Life, the world is always refreshing itself through a constant cycle of rebirth.

The show opens with Life, and a dynamic arrangement of Joseph Curiale’s Adelina De Maya. It quickly moves into a Brazilian Batucada—a sub-style of samba—in which the ensemble uses different ethnic Brazilian instruments like “repiniques” and “tamborims” to create a carnival atmosphere, before returning to Adelina De Maya to close out the first section. Next the ensemble explores the theme of Death, introduced by a single tolling chime and four-part ensemble singing. The battery percussion performs somber movement, while the front ensemble plays a segment of Lamentations of Jeremiah, written by Argentina’s Alberto Ginastera, and arranged by Ian Hale. Finally, the group slowly but surely accelerates into section three, New Life! The complex rhythms of Pat Metheny’s Third Wind burst in, Curiale’s music returns, and everything comes full circle, ending with music and drill identical to how the show began!

The dramatic floor, set, and uniforms, with their various light and dark colors and symbols of infinity, all represent different Perpetual Cycles—the seasons, the water cycle, the life cycle, and the many processes that result in new life.