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Act II - MYTHS

Act II - MYTHS 

The second act to be performed on this program is a suite of music called "MYTHS" that Van Winkle intends to record and release as an album. Each of the songs in this set of music is an allegory to an ancient Greek myth. Inspired by Carl Jung's idea of the need for all of us to find our “personal myth” that lives in each of our lives, Van Winkle attempts to represent these timeless stories with circumstances and emotional experiences from his own life, and that he has witnessed in the lives of others.

The first piece in this set, dubbed “Insatiable Desire”, depicts the story of Euripides and Demeter where, for punishment for cutting down a tree sacred to her, Demeter curses Euripides to have insatiable hunger no matter how much he eats. Van Winkle relates this to the feeling he suspects we all feel from time to time where we just cannot satisfy ourselves no matter how much we eat. Following this is the short "Goddess Waltz" where our dancer, Adrienne Ziarkowsky is first introduced.

The next short installment, dubbed “Only Time” is told from the perspective of Chronos when he realizes that he's planted the seed for all of the future and the only way to see how it will unfold is to let time pass. This is tied closely with the scientific idea, spearheaded by Stephen Wolfram, of computational irreducibility, where there are no shortcuts in the chaotic system that is our universe, it must unfold on its own.

After that is a bubbly song called “Daffodils”. This song depicts the untold happy ending of Echo and Narcissus. In the classic myth, Echo is cursed to only be able to repeat the words of other people, and Narcissus, after treating Echo poorly because of this, is cursed to fall in love with the reflection of himself that he sees in the water. After years and years, a daffodil grows in his place  (This is where we get the scientific name for the flower, Narcissus!) In the song the characters explore their powers of reflection and use them to fall in love with each other, Narcissus reflects the way echo moves and Echo imitates the way he sings.

The next myth to be represented in song is the myth of "Tantalus" told in Van Winkle's "Tentation Infinie". According to the myth, Tantalus is cursed to be forever hungry and thirsty but with fruit a water just out of reach. The more that he reaches for the fruit on the fruit tree the further it goes away, and the more he attempts to drink the water just at his feet, the further it recedes. Van Winkle relates this to romantic relationships that seem to become more and more impossible as one falls more and more in love.

Next we have "Fall Too Hard" which represents the myth of Icarus, who, despite being warned, flew too close to the sun and his wings burned which caused him to fall. Van Winkle relates this to how with many things in life, we are tempted to "see for ourselves", and sometimes being told not to do something only makes us want to do it even more.

In the next song, “I don't need it”, Van Winkle relates the process of getting over an addiction, or getting out of a harmful dependent relationship, to the myth of Hecate, who is sometimes known as the Goddess of Boundaries.

The next "Tempted by the Effort" represents the myth of Sisyphus who is tasked with pushing a boulder to the top of a hill every day for eternity where it inevitably rolls back down to the bottom for him to push it again. Despite this, Sisyphus is not miserable, which is similar to how we can find the meaning and purpose in work itself and in the suffering that we experience in pursuit of the goal, not necessarily the goal itself.

The last song in this suite of music, "Stay A While" represents the myth of Eros and Psyche. The song depicts the ending of that myth where, after a long period of mutual betrayal and lack of trust, the two forgive each other and Eros offers that Psyche join him and live in the sky with the gods for eternity. The song depicts two lovers who haven't seen each other for quite some time who realize their mistakes, and commit that they have learned from them and that they are ready to give unbounding love to the other to the end of time.

Act II - MYTHS

Act II - MYTHS 

The second act to be performed on this program is a suite of music called "MYTHS" that Van Winkle intends to record and release as an album. Each of the songs in this set of music is an allegory to an ancient Greek myth. Inspired by Carl Jung's idea of the need for all of us to find our “personal myth” that lives in each of our lives, Van Winkle attempts to represent these timeless stories with circumstances and emotional experiences from his own life, and that he has witnessed in the lives of others.

The first piece in this set, dubbed “Insatiable Desire”, depicts the story of Euripides and Demeter where, for punishment for cutting down a tree sacred to her, Demeter curses Euripides to have insatiable hunger no matter how much he eats. Van Winkle relates this to the feeling he suspects we all feel from time to time where we just cannot satisfy ourselves no matter how much we eat. Following this is the short "Goddess Waltz" where our dancer, Adrienne Ziarkowsky is first introduced.

The next short installment, dubbed “Only Time” is told from the perspective of Chronos when he realizes that he's planted the seed for all of the future and the only way to see how it will unfold is to let time pass. This is tied closely with the scientific idea, spearheaded by Stephen Wolfram, of computational irreducibility, where there are no shortcuts in the chaotic system that is our universe, it must unfold on its own.

After that is a bubbly song called “Daffodils”. This song depicts the untold happy ending of Echo and Narcissus. In the classic myth, Echo is cursed to only be able to repeat the words of other people, and Narcissus, after treating Echo poorly because of this, is cursed to fall in love with the reflection of himself that he sees in the water. After years and years, a daffodil grows in his place  (This is where we get the scientific name for the flower, Narcissus!) In the song the characters explore their powers of reflection and use them to fall in love with each other, Narcissus reflects the way echo moves and Echo imitates the way he sings.

The next myth to be represented in song is the myth of "Tantalus" told in Van Winkle's "Tentation Infinie". According to the myth, Tantalus is cursed to be forever hungry and thirsty but with fruit a water just out of reach. The more that he reaches for the fruit on the fruit tree the further it goes away, and the more he attempts to drink the water just at his feet, the further it recedes. Van Winkle relates this to romantic relationships that seem to become more and more impossible as one falls more and more in love.

Next we have "Fall Too Hard" which represents the myth of Icarus, who, despite being warned, flew too close to the sun and his wings burned which caused him to fall. Van Winkle relates this to how with many things in life, we are tempted to "see for ourselves", and sometimes being told not to do something only makes us want to do it even more.

In the next song, “I don't need it”, Van Winkle relates the process of getting over an addiction, or getting out of a harmful dependent relationship, to the myth of Hecate, who is sometimes known as the Goddess of Boundaries.

The next "Tempted by the Effort" represents the myth of Sisyphus who is tasked with pushing a boulder to the top of a hill every day for eternity where it inevitably rolls back down to the bottom for him to push it again. Despite this, Sisyphus is not miserable, which is similar to how we can find the meaning and purpose in work itself and in the suffering that we experience in pursuit of the goal, not necessarily the goal itself.

The last song in this suite of music, "Stay A While" represents the myth of Eros and Psyche. The song depicts the ending of that myth where, after a long period of mutual betrayal and lack of trust, the two forgive each other and Eros offers that Psyche join him and live in the sky with the gods for eternity. The song depicts two lovers who haven't seen each other for quite some time who realize their mistakes, and commit that they have learned from them and that they are ready to give unbounding love to the other to the end of time.