The Eyes of an Abhinaya Dancer
The Eyes of an Abhinaya Dancer was inspired by a performance by the Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, which performs traditional South Indian dances. (Abhinaya is an Indian word for gesture.) I was transfixed by the varied and subtle movements of the dancers, whose slightest motions were finely tuned to the compelling rhythms of the music. At times, a mere glance of their eyes conveyed great meaning, appearing to accentuate some slight, brilliant flutter of sound emanating from the middle of the counterpoint. I sought to create an equivalent experience in my own musical language. I did not try to imitate their music directly, although certain obvious references can be heard. Rather, short, simple gestures are introduced that combine with one another and eventually grow into more complex phrases and melodies.
The Eyes of an Abhinaya Dancer was composed in the summer of 1995, while I was in residence at Yaddo, an artists¼ colony in Saratoga, New York. The quartet was written with support from the Barlow Foundation at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City.