In the course of some seventy-five minutes, we heard readers voicing excerpts of verses by Robert Desnos and, in a bitterly ruing mood, Constantine Cavafy, as well as poetry and prose by Sir Thomas Browne (from his Urn Burial), Sacheverell Sitwell, Robert Walser (the Swiss obsessive with walking), Clarice Lispector, Dunn himself (as a character named “Paul”), and the Palestinian-American scholar, essayist, and activist Edward Said (from his On Late Style). Their qualities of backward glances and senses of endings that fortify one’s appreciation of life’s wonder and richness as it disappears are exquisitely echoed in the evening’s poignant musical selections, which included Chopin waltzes and nocturnes (played by Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein), several pieces by Bach performed by Glenn Gould and others (among them, the Aria in G Major from The Goldberg Variations, played by the pianist Carol Rosenberger, who overcame paralytic polio to become a concertizing performer), and a Branle double as described in the 1588 Orchésographie of dance theorist and historian Thoinot Arbeau. 

In conjunction with the costume and scenic designs, the lighting, and the beautiful videos, the meticulously assembled sound score of music and literature places the choreography in a stunning context, where the immortal Hesperides are perceived within the reality of a world where aging, regret, and death are ineluctable.  The dancing of Dunn and Della-Terza, in a duet, was a gentle paean to the erasures of time: Mostly slow stepping and gravely executed, enigmatic gestures, they connected with many of us in the audience, who also walked with some caution if not with mechanical assistance. 

In contrast was the youthful dancing of the rest of the cast, who ranged downward in age from Janet Charleston (a member of Douglas Dunn + Dancers since 1993 and so adept in her solo that, unless you had read her bio online, you wouldn’t be likely to guess how many years separate her from her younger colleagues). Kieran McBride, listed as an understudy, was so strong and stylish in her solo as a nymph, late in the work, that she seemed special even among this meritorious group. (Perhaps her gifts are familial? She is a niece of the New York City Ballet ballerina Patricia McBride.) Her variation was itself outstanding for its clarity of structure and delightfully unpredictable phrasing. I learned after the performance that McBride was dancing a solo Dunn had made in 1984, which she learned from a video. “Hesperides” has been in process for the past forty-two years! No wonder it seems so wise.

Dancers in the work who have not yet been mentioned were cove barton [cq], Alexandra Berger, Vanessa Knouse, Emily Pope, Deniz Sancak, Jin Ju Song-Begin, Dongri Suh, and Timothy Ward. Commendations to them all.

My only reservation concerns the props meant, I believe, to represent a couple of the golden apples. From where I sat, they looked not gold but fiery, and their shape seemed closer to that of red peppers. On the other hand, perhaps that was a wake-up call for me to get new glasses.