Annonciation

«  How does the Annunciation, that key moment which underpins a whole religion, resonate in us, what does it awaken? 

While so many painters over the past 2000  years have sought time and again to understand the flurry of  contradictory symbols, which in effect is what the Annunciation is, it  comes as something of a surprise that a theme, a subject in which so  many issues about the body are so manifestly implicated should have  reminded almost entirely absent from choreographic art. 

And yet, what we find here, deep down, is truly fascinating. 

In traditional iconography, Mary is often  shown in an enclosed or walled garden, symbolising her virginity. There  is, therefore, a parallel between what might be called her inner space  and her surroundings. 

When the angel breaks into this private world,  he is saying, in so many words, that the workings of her body are about  to be dramatically altered. This explains why it is that, although in  the Bible the Virgin displays a screen acceptance of the forthcoming  event, many artists have chosen to make her the prey of doubt, anxiety,  even rebelliousness. 

The strange co-existence of acceptance and  rebellion, the collision of space and time, tell us that at the very  moment the message is given, fertilisation takes place. We are, as it  were, inside biology, the very act of conception. 

This coming to life in gradual stages takes us  to the heart of the process of creating art; the message is no longer  an abstraction, it is reality. 

Rather than something finished, isn’t what we  call nowadays conceptual art the portent of a new art, the Annunciation  of an art yet to be born?  » 

Angelin Preljocaj (source: website of Ballet Preljocaj – http://www.preljocaj.org)