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 The
Desperate Heart Preservation Project
(CD-ROM) Currently designed to run on Mac OS 9
Directed by Valarie Mockabee
Created by Jamie Jewett
The Desperate Heart is a solo work that can only be described
as demanding, wrenching, awe-inspiring, taxing. It embodies
much of Bettis' own personality described by former Bettis
dancer, Rosalind Pierson, as "a tiger," "a
fighter." Along with that personality, text by John
Malcolm Brinnin, a friend of Bettis', and music by Bernardo
Segáll, Bettis' husband, contribute greatly to the
work. All components of the dance are intrinsically linked,
each giving meaning to the other. The music is a mirror
image of the movements, and it provides complementary crescendo
and ritardando. The text provides glimpses into the past
and present. It is the backdrop for moments throughout the
dance and, it provides a framework for the choreographic
intent. In reviewing the work, Edwin Denby stated, "One
has not the sense of watching a dancer's dance invention.
She looks like a beautiful young woman who is agitated,
like a character in a situation" (McDonagh, 1976).
The work is divided into three sections, Text, Music, Silence
& Text. It is at once both emotionally and technically
demanding. In the opening text, frantic thrusting head gestures
create a tension that builds until the soloist is harkened
back to "memories of an afternoon." Leading into
the musical section, the soloist is taken back in time to
moments of great joy and frustration. She pulls to fight
out of the veil of memories, but then gives way to softer
reflections portrayed in the penchés. When the text
is introduced during the music, the soloist is propelled
back into a frenetic state that then gives way to silence
and large whole body movements representing "screams."
The text, now in present tense, stops the jarring, gnashing
moments of rage, and the woman resolutely returns to her
semi-circular path with the heart-like pulsating rhythm
of the head movements only to end searching, searching, searching.
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