The Cabiri (performance troupe) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

based non-profit physical theater troupe, was founded in 1999 by Artistic Director John S. Murphy. In 2001, the troupe became legally incorporated (under the organization The Anunnaki Project) and obtained 501(c)(3) status from the IRS. The mission of The Cabiri and The Anunnaki Project is to preserve the mythologies of cultures that have passed into antiquity, utilizing theatrical, storytelling dance performances, educational presentations, and a free online encyclopedia of terms from folklore and mythology.

Since its inception, the troupe has utilized a variety of mediums to present "performative mythology," theatrical depictions of tales from folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

and mythology

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

. Tales from Babylonian mythology, Celtic mythology

Celtic mythology

Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...

, Chinese mythology

Chinese mythology

Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...

, Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Italian folklore, Japanese mythology

Japanese mythology

Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...

, Romanian folklore, Russian mythology, Sumerian mythology, and other mythos have been utilized in past productions.

The Cabiri's early work consisted primarily of street theater and performance art

Performance art

In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...

including fire dancing

Fire dancing

Fire dancing is a group of performance arts or disciplines that involve manipulation of objects on fire...

, stilt walking, and juggling

Juggling

Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...

. In 2001 the company began incorporating aerial dance

Aerial Dance

-Aerial dance:Aerial modern dance is a sub-genre of modern dance first recognized in the United States in the 1970s. The choreography incorporates an apparatus often attached to the ceiling, allowing performers to explore space in three-dimensions...

on low-flying trapeze

Trapeze

A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances...

, aerial sling, aerial hoop

Aerial Hoop

The aerial hoop is a circular steel apparatus suspended from the ceiling, on which circus artists may perform aerial acrobatics. The hoop sometimes has a hand loop and a bar across the top...

(lyra), and other apparatus. Aerial dance has since become the primary performance focus of the troupe.

In 2006, the organization expanded its activities to include aerial dance instruction for adults.

The troupe draws from accredited academic resources that have undergone peer review when creating new work, and strives to educate the public about folklore and mythology via its theatrical productions. The organization's work has been presented to thousands of audience members throughout North America in the last decade and has been featured in a variety of media and arts-related publications.

Performance History

The Genesis of Ereshkigal (July 2000): utilizing puppetry, physical theatre, and fire performance, this early production depicted Ereshkigal

Ereshkigal

In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal was the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead or underworld. Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla, similar to the way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler.Ereshkigal was the only one who could pass judgment and...

's abduction by Kur

Kur

In Babylonian mythology, Irkalla is the hell-like underworld from which there is no return. It is also called Arali, Kigal, Gizal, and the lower world...

and Enki

Enki

Enki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...

's rescue attempt

The Kojiki of Amaterasu (September 2001): one of the final performances on the stage at the old Seattle Opera House, the story of Japanese solar goddess Amaterasu

Amaterasu

, or is apart of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto religion. She is the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. the name Amaterasu derived from Amateru meaning "shining in heaven." The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is "the great August kami who...

Vasalisa the Beautiful (March 2002): a tale from Russian folklore, in which Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga or Baba Roga is a haggish or witchlike character in Slavic folklore. She flies around on a giant pestle, kidnaps small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs...

, the forest witch encounters the lovely Vasalisa and sets before her three impossible tasks

Dance of the Calusari (May 2003): in collaboration with Radost Folk Ensemble, explored Romanian folklore and the Calusari

Calusari

The Căluşari were the members of a Romanian fraternal secret society who practiced a ritual acrobatic dance known as the căluş. According to the Romanian historian Mircea Eliade, the Calusari were known for "their ability to create the impression of flying in the air" which he believed represented...

folk dancers.

The Ghost Game (October 2006): survey of folklore and mythology regarding ghosts; premise inspired by Hyaku Monogatari, a Japanese ghost story game.

Garden of Dreams (June 2007): nine tales depicting folklore and mythology of plants from a variety of cultures.

Gods of the Night (July 2008): seven Mesopotamian planetary gods and Inanna

Inanna

Inanna, also spelled Inana is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare....

's epic descent to the Underworld and encounter with Ereshkigal

Ereshkigal

, Queen of the Sumerian Underworld.

The Ghost Game: Tales of 13 Witches (October 2008): nine performances exploring the witch archetype in folklore and mythology.

The Ghost Game: Dead Gods (October 2009): six vignettes depicting deaths of deities from folklore and mythology.

Carpathian Dawn (April 2010): a full length production drawing tales from Slavic mythology

Slavic mythology

Slavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation.The religion possesses many common traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European religion....

including the bathhouse spirit Bannik

Bannik

Bannik is the bathhouse spirit in Slavic mythology. Slavic bathhouses resemble saunas, with an inner steaming room and an outer changing room. A place where women gave birth and practiced divinations, the bathhouse was strongly endowed with vital forces...

, house spirits Domovoi

Domovoi

A domovoi or domovoy is a house spirit in Slavic folklore. The plural form in Russian can be transliterated domoviye or domovye ....

, and primary god Svarog

Svarog

Svarog is a Slavic deity known primarily from the Hypatian Codex, a Slavic translation of the Chronicle of John Malalas. Svarog is there identified with Hephaestus, the god of the blacksmith in ancient Greek religion, and as the father of Dažbog, a Slavic solar deity...

.

The Ghost Game: Devil In the Deep Blue Sea (October 2010): seven vignettes exploring tales from bodies of water, including the Slavic Rusalka

Rusalka

In Slavic mythology, a rusalka was a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwelled in a waterway....

, the Scottish Each uisge

Each uisge

The each uisge is a mythological Scottish water spirit, called the Aughisky in Ireland. It is similar to the kelpie, but far more dangerous.The Each Uisge, a supernatural water horse found in the Highlands of Scotland, is supposedly the most dangerous water-dwelling creature in the British Isles...

, Japanese Kappa (folklore), Ondine (mythology)

Ondine (mythology)

Undines , also called ondines, are elementals, enumerated as the water elementals in works of alchemy by Paracelsus. They also appear in European folklore as fairy-like creatures; the name may be used interchangeably with those of other water spirits. Undines are said to be able to gain a soul by...

, and Egyptian Apep

Apep

In Egyptian mythology, Apep was an evil god, the deification of darkness and chaos , and thus opponent of light and Ma'at , whose existence was believed from the 8th Dynasty onwards...

External links

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