Medusa Procession by Joan Harmon
For our final performance, we filmed a music video with a feminist take on the story of Medusa, Athena, and Poseidon. In this version of the famous story, Medusa claims her power even after Athena casts the spell and turns her hair into snakes.
This was refreshing after exploring the Commedia archetypes, which naturally expose power dynamics between men and women in the 16th century. These archetypes are still alive today, in life and in art. We had to dive into the roots of our society and constructs of gender, drawing relevance to present day matters such as the "Me Too" movement.
The villainization of women is reflected in Athena’s unrequited loyalty to Poseidon and her jealousy over his attraction to Medusa. She took out her jealousy on Medusa as the object of desire, instead of on Poseidon who raped her.
The story of Medusa is typically told with the emphasis on Medusa’s hideousness and her gaze causing all victims who look into her eyes to turn into stone. Medusa’s story ends with Perseus chopping off her head, but we gave Medusa a powerful voice in this unique interpretation of the myth. We all sang “Hate On Me,” by Jill Scott, against the expectation that Medusa should only feel shame, which is relevant today in the "Me Too" movement where the tendency is to blame the victim of sexual assault rather than the assaulter, to deconstruct rape culture itself. Performing this meaningful story at Golden Hour, in the pergola, was pure magic.
Blue waves of mountains and puddles in the stone streets
Overlapping pathways
Maps of artistry
Language of love flowing like the ocean
Warm sparkles from the sun dance across terra-cotta rooftops
Sunflower-colored paint fades under balconies on the clay villas
Paintings and carvings
Sacred Florentine architecture
Everywhere.
Lacy clouds adorned with glistening flowers
Cherubs reaching out
For an embrace
For the sweet taste
Of childlike wonder.
Sculptures adorn
The corners of the gardens.
Clover, dandelions, mint, and lavender cover Tuscan meadows
Rooted in the valley of death,
Olive, lemon, and fig trees reach up to the heavens,
Tears of joy anoint my eyes like the fountain of love
Overflowing like a waterfall
To dive in
Grazie amore
For risking the fall,
Trusting these wings will open
As open as the leaves on the trees
Let the sun shine through me
And turn me brighter like your hair in the summer.
Faith feathering through the night
The target at the end of my eye-line
It beats as loud as my heart
As I leap across the constellations.
Love feathers through across watery lips,
Softening the stone that once held in the rise of life
The soaring strength it takes to blossom
Gentle as a feather caressing your skin
The soft tenderness it takes to fly
To live
To find
To love
To die.
Traveler of the universe,
Spirit of the sun,
The sand is my skin,
Water my blood,
Stones my bones.
Feather to fire,
Where faith and desire
Come together
Flying into the sunrise
leaving the dusk behind.
Grazie Amore
