ANIMA

Anima is a contemporary dance interpretation of Marcel Dupré’s Symphonie-Passion, a striking and original piece of organ music. The piece was choreographed by Claire during her three-year residency at Chester Cathedral (2015-18), with Bettina Carpi, a Chester-based dance artist and choreographer. Anima was performed by Claire & Bettina with a company drawn from the Cathedral and local community, and students from Chester University Dance Department in Holy Week 2017. Symphonie-Passion is played on the Cathedral organ by Philip Rushforth, Director of Music.

‘Anima’ means the soul or inner self or the feminine part of the psyche and the piece, performed by a company of women, explores themes of connection and disconnection, of belonging, and of the relation of the individual to the group. It engages in a dialogue with the music without enacting the passion story in a literal way. Birth, death, and resurrection, the central themes of Easter and of Dupré’s masterpiece, are interpreted within the framework of the human struggle to become differentiated and mature in the face of the mob.