Assessment: Joanna Marsh choreographs a poignant sequel with “La Follia”

From the writer:

Following the success of Cantique de Salomon, Colette struggles to steadiness marriage, a booming dancewear enterprise, and her first ballet efficiency. In the meantime, James suffers an damage that forces him to query his future. When Colette receives an sudden shot at a solo, will she rise to the event—or buckle below the strain?

A sequel to the novel Cantique, La Follia explores the regenerative energy of creativity amid the chaos of on a regular basis life.

In her first novel, Cantique, Joanna Marsh launched readers to Colette, an grownup dancer who longed to carry out and who fell in love with James, a principal dancer with the Westmoreland Ballet. Readers watched Colette blossom below her collaboration with Henri Lavoisier, the corporate’s creative director, on an authentic ballet that turned an enormous success. We additionally watched her confidence develop as a dancer and in her profession as a costumer and dancewear designer.

When La Follia opens, Colette is swamped with work: fittings for Westmoreland Ballet’s efficiency of “Swan Lake” have begun and orders at her on-line dancewear retailer are overwhelming. As if these weren’t sufficient “good issues” to have, a brand new instructor on the faculty desires to choreograph a chunk on her grownup college students and have them carry out it on stage. Life for Colette is about to get even busier and extra thrilling!

However no sooner has she begun to work with Iris and the group than James suffers a career-jeopardizing damage. He’s out of “Swan Lake” and off his ft – homebound and bored along with being apprehensive about what his future could maintain. After taking a brief job at his father’s retailer (mockingly, the cashier’s place Colette had once they first met), James occurs to encounter a lesser-known composition by Antonio Vivaldi, “La Follia.” He turns into entranced, and later impressed, by this 9-minute piece, identified additionally as Sonata in D Minor, Op. 1, No. 12, which was written within the early 18th century.

Music in La Follia, because it was in Cantique, performs an essential function within the story and within the growth of the characters and their relationships. When James discovers the Vivaldi piece, he turns into obsessive about it in a method that enables him to find a brand new ardour, a brand new function, and he quickly encourages Colette to pay attention too. Regardless of the commotion of Colette’s life – the upcoming present, the anxiousness she feels about her personal efficiency, the stress of her dancewear enterprise – she finds solace within the composition. She readily agrees to work with James as he creates, to permit him to set the choreography on her.

Working collectively on “La Follia” rekindles the enjoyment James and Colette felt once they created “Cantique de Salomon,” invigorating them each and provoking their creativity. When an opportunity to carry out this new piece in the identical present as Iris’s group work is obtainable, James jumps at it however Colette hesitates. Though it’s a once-in-a-lifetime alternative, dancing a solo can be horrifying and Colette begins to query her abilities earlier than stepping on-stage. Can she actually do that? Ought to she?

“La folia” or “la follia” means “insanity” and has been used as a theme in music for hundreds of years, with numerous composers taking a flip at invoking it of their work. It was initially meant for frolicsome dancing (very similar to we’d use a easy tune for a gaggle dance in a membership or at a celebration) and composers all through the years wrote variations on it, Vivaldi’s being one which has stood the check of time. Marsh’s use of this piece of “mad” music to carry calm to her characters’ anxious lives is intelligent and it positively makes a reader need to know extra.

Readers who love dance, grownup ballet college students who’re greater than hobbyists but not fairly skilled, will see themselves in Colette and can root for her to succeed on the stage, as a lot as she does in her off-stage life.

A particular deal with! Joanna joins us to reply some questions in regards to the e-book, her course of, and the inspiration she took from her personal life.

Dance Benefit: What spurred you to jot down a sequel to Cantique? Do you know this was the following step in Colette’s journey?

Joanna Marsh: I didn’t intend to jot down a sequel, however readers began asking for one early on. Luckily, I had some concepts come to me shortly earlier than publishing Cantique, so I had a spot to start out. I knew I needed Colette to carry out, and I knew what James and Sammy could be as much as. From a writing standpoint, I additionally needed to sort out a efficiency story because the content material style. (Whereas Cantique is about dance, it’s not a efficiency story.)

DA: Do you envision extra tales on the planet of the Westmoreland Ballet?

JM: I’ve some concepts for yet another, however we’ll see the way it goes. I can’t make any guarantees simply but!

DA: What was your analysis like for this novel? Was there something you wanted to know extra about?

JM: I keep in mind researching particular dance accidents, the historical past of the “folia/follia” theme, and completely different variations of Swan Lake. 

DA: You go into nice element with a number of the choreography; what was it prefer to choreograph in addition to write?

JM: Since I’m very a lot a newbie at choreography I didn’t think about any of the items in La Follia of their entirety. I are inclined to sprinkle in a number of steps right here and there and go away the reader to fill within the gaps. I did discover it fairly pleasing to plan the general temper and elegance of a chunk with out having to do the precise work of choreographing.

DA: The costumes sound luxurious. What’s your expertise with costuming?

JM: I’m a horrible seamstress, so that you received’t discover me making any costumes! Nonetheless, I’ve been lucky sufficient to carry out as a supernumerary in a few skilled productions, so I’ve had some firsthand expertise being in a dressing up store and sporting robes just like these described within the e-book. 

DA: If this novel had been a film, who would play Colette and James? Iris and Sammy? Others that stand out?

JM: I don’t have anybody particular in thoughts; I simply hope they’re precise dancers! I might love to listen to who readers would counsel. I do keep in mind stumbling upon a clip of Patric Palkens a pair years in the past (I believe he was with Cincinnati Ballet) and considering he may make a superb James. We will see if he’s obtainable every time this hypothetical movie comes out!

DA: Did you could have any real-life inspirations for the characters, firm, setting?

JM: In fact, every thing has to start out with my life expertise to some extent, however not one of the characters had been consciously based mostly on particular folks. Most of them simply sort of seem on the web page, absolutely fashioned–even I don’t know the place their personalities come from. Concerning the corporate, I needed Westmoreland to move for any mid-sized, midwestern ballet firm. Because of this I deliberately saved the setting obscure. I by no means truly point out its location, which makes it really feel a bit extra like a modern-day fairy story to me. (Facet notice–there may be truly an actual Westmoreland Ballet now in Pennsylvania, which may trigger some confusion!)

DA: Have you ever ever had the expertise of stage fright that Colette has? How a lot of your personal life, if any, is mirrored within the novel?

JM: I’ve felt comparable stage fright however it was not associated to bop–it was truly earlier than some radio and TV interviews I did a number of years in the past. It’s actually tough to understand how a lot of my life is mirrored within the novel. Some scenes could begin with a component of my very own expertise however then creativeness takes over and every thing turns into fictionalized. I’ll say that Colette’s relationship with music is sort of similar to my very own in that the standard of my dancing relies on how a lot I just like the music. My very own efficiency experiences additionally knowledgeable the way in which I wrote about that course of and the transition from studio to stage.

DA: Any scene or character find yourself on the “slicing room flooring”?

JM: The one factor I lower from La Follia is the prologue, which is a information article with loads of exposition filling within the gaps between the 2 novels. My very smart and well-read cousin instructed I lower it. I ended up making the prologue into slightly bonus sneak preview for my electronic mail subscribers, so it labored out effectively ultimately!

DA: Music performs a serious function in your novels. How did you uncover La Follia? Is there something about it you need readers to know?

JM: Okay, right here’s a component from my actual life. My husband discovered Vivaldi’s “La Follia” whereas he was listening to music at work, and we each turned obsessive about it. At that time I had already written a number of the manuscript, and it dawned on me that “La Follia” was the lacking piece, so I began working it into the story. I didn’t inform my husband that I used to be utilizing it within the novel till two years later, proper as I used to be making ready to publish. He took the information effectively!

There are a lot of preparations of the folia theme by completely different composers, however this specific recording of Vivaldi’s model (by Il Giardino Armonico) is the one which impressed me. So, the one factor I might counsel to readers is to hearken to that one in the event that they’re curious. It’s positively not a prerequisite, although. I do know some folks desire imagining their very own music as they learn.

DA: Something you’d prefer to share about this novel? Concerning the writing of it?

JM: Whereas I wrote La Follia for my fellow leisure dancers, it additionally incorporates some broader themes on creativity that I hope function encouragement to all readers who would possibly see themselves within the characters. If nothing else, I would like my writing to encourage folks to make use of their very own creativity, whether or not that’s via dance or some other medium.

JOANNA MARSH is a librarian, archivist, visible artist, and leisure dancer based mostly in Kansas Metropolis. She is the writer of two girls’s fiction novels, CANTIQUE and LA FOLLIA. For extra data, go to her web site.

Join with Joanna on Instagram and Fb.

Leigh Purtill is a ballet teacher and choreographer in Los Angeles the place she lives together with her husband and charming poodle. She acquired her grasp’s diploma in Movie Manufacturing from Boston College and her bachelor’s in Anthropology and Dance from Mount Holyoke Faculty. She is the writer of 4 younger grownup novels from Penguin and HarperCollins. She is the creative director of the Leigh Purtill Ballet Firm, a nonprofit newbie ballet firm for adults and she or he teaches ballet and jazz to adults each in particular person and on-line, Leigh Purtill Ballet. Learn Leigh’s posts.