Growing up a member of Generation X, for the most part I had an ambivalent relationship with Joni Mitchell’s music - except that I twitched every time I heard the line from Woodstock: “half a million strong”. Annoyed with the Boomer Generation’s propensity to exaggerate their achievements I always sung under my breath “400,000 strong”.
But in the time from age 20-40, I’ve seen my own share of hopes, dreams, disillusionment and disappointment - which has humbled and educated me. Seven years ago, a Boomer friend re-introduced me to Joni Mitchell and I realized youth and stupidity had blinded me to an exceptional songwriter whose poetry hit on emotions and thoughts relevant to ALL generations.
After debuting in February 2007, Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and The Drum returned to both Jubilee Auditoriums this past month with four new songs. I missed it the first time around, but since its original premiere two years ago, this amazing collaboration between Mitchell and Alberta Ballet Artistic Director Jean Grand-Maître has grown into a critically acclaimed ballet that audiences world-wide have praised. The ballet addresses Ms. Mitchell’s preoccupations of war and environmental neglect, projecting visual imagery from the artist Joni onstage while dancers interpret the emotions from the singer/songwriter Joni.
“Some people tell me that I am a pessimist, but I see myself as a realist. There are too many public individuals out there playing the ostrich and choosing not to see the reality of it all,” says Mitchell. “We are on this spaceship that is accelerating, the fuselage is coming apart and our leaders can only think of going even faster.”
The production – a bare stage with only a center screen projection for Mitchell’s images, has primarily two colour schemes – pink and green; odd colours for death and destruction, especially given that green sometimes is the colour for hope. This colour scheme is reflected in the dancers’ basic outfits of green – accentuated with a red skirt for the song Ethiopia.
This semi-abstract narrative ballet, danced in neo-classical style, presented several of Joni Mitchell’s songs, from Sex Kills, Slouching Towards Bethlehem and of course, Woodstock. But it was some of Mitchell’s songs I’d not heard before which struck me: Shine; a clear and poignant lullaby no child should have to hear, and from the album “Dog Eat Dog” the song The Three Great Stimulants.
The whole of the work itself grabs you; all elements of movement, imagery, and sound unify and give full weight to the words and emotions of Joni’s songs, especially given the weighty subject matter. Whether this work inspires some of the public towards action is beyond me to say; even if it inspires individuals towards action I can’t know. What I do know is that once again, my eyes have been opened wider to an amazing artist.
