"The Grand Tour"

I was simultaneously surprised and thrilled when choreographers from BalletMet reached out to me a couple months ago. Not for my dancing, of course, but for my narration. They had seen what I did with Song of the Stars and wanted to involve me in one of their productions.

Their concept is simple. The Voyager space probes, launched in the late 1970's to go on a "grand tour" of the outer planets of the solar system, are now headed into interstellar space. And tucked between the scientific instruments is a golden record containing recordings of voices, sounds of nature, and music.

For their annual Benefit performance, where proceeds go to the Central Ohio Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation, they wanted to perform dances to three of the pieces on the Golden Record, and they asked me to tell the story of those spacecraft and the purpose of their message.

The pieces couldn't be more different - a blues number from the turn of the century, an Indian raga, and one of the Brandenburg Concertos - but they all share something in common. They were chosen to represent us.

The performance is at 5pm in the Davidson Theatre on May 21st, and you can find more information at thebenefitcolumbus.org.