Playing with Gestures in Dance: 'Jason en Medea' (1762/1792) as a Locus for Expressive Experimentation

In 1762, Izaak Duim, a book-seller in Amsterdam, published a scenario for Jason en Medea; Serieuse Ballet. Divided into ten scenes, the ballet tells the tale of Jason in Colchis and the winning of the Golden Fleece. The characters portrayed include not only the eponymous hero and his beguiled lover Medea, but also mythological figures (like the Argonauts, various Furies and the Graces) as well as allegorical figures (Ambition, Courage and Valour). A newspaper article fromt he Leydse Courant dated May 18th, 1764 calls it a grand ballet tragique and indicates that it was choreographed by Sieru Joubert who also performed in the work (presumably the role of Jason) together with a certain Demoiselle Dey. A number of newspaper advertisements in June of 1792 announce the Amsterdam publication of a new work entitled Jason en Medea; Tooneelmatig Divertissement ('Theatrical Entertainment'). The foreword indicates that it is based on the "well-known pantomime Jason en Medea; Serjeuse [sic] Ballet". This work, published anonymously, expands the original scenario into something resembling an opéra comique )a genre that was popular in the Amsterdam at the time). Though it appears never to have been produced, could it offer insights into what the pantomime version of Jason en Medea looked like? This paper will examine both of these versions as loci for performative experimentation. Can we unlock some of the movements, meanings and kinetic expressions implicit in the original by acting  the spoken/sung texts that are present in the later version? The audience will be invited to try things out in a playful way, and to reflet on how dancers might use text more generally to generate expression in their work. 

Jed Wentz has operated within the context of historically informed performance for his entire career, working as a traverso-player, conductor and teacher specializing in music of the long eighteenth century. He received his doctorate in 2010 from Leiden University, where he currently works at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts. His area of interest at the moment is centered on declamation and acting techniques, 1680-1930 and their relationship to musical performance. He has published in, among others, Early Music, The Riemenschneider Back Journal and The Cambridge Opera Journal; and has recorded many CDs with his ensemble Musica ad Rhenum. In 2021 he recorded, together with pianist Artem Belogurov, a CD entitled The Pied Piper of Mamelin and Other Melodramas. He is artistic advisor to the Utrecht Early Music Festival.