A beautiful, yet confronting, dancing mime about good and bad labels affecting women. This powerfully emotionally charged drama set to a harp and violin version of ‘Meditation’ by Massenet.(times listed below will vary per recording) eg youtube.com/watch?v=rNNphUmKiJw
The script is tightly synced with the music’s swells, with a trained, flowing dancer. The aim is to connect the audience to the woman, feel her pain, (some will even relate, while others will be made aware of women struggling through such things) and then feel her joy as she has victory over the depths of Satan’s evilness.
This woman is to be totally broken from these initial unfair and confronting words, to the point of despair, and then is ultimately built up from the depth of Satan’s lies and see the ultimate inspiring truth: she is a loved child of God, as is every member of the audience.
0:00 [harp starts]0:09 [violin joins]
A woman, Blossom, enters. She’s light on her toes, has flowing movements, carries a gerbera flower, reasonably cheerful, oblivious and self-confident. Life is simple.
0:46 [second verse starts]
Another woman, Raven, casually enters, not dancing so much, and begins to look over Blossom judgmentally, looking her up and down.
1:00 [slight cord change]Raven points Blossom to some labels (covered) on a back wall, down low while sniggering in self-satisfaction a little. Raven invites Blossom to reveal the labels.
1:36 ['chorus' change]
Out of curiosity Blossom uncovers the highest of Raven’s label (waste high), which reveals a minorly hurtful word/phrase (“ugly”) and Raven plucks a petal from the flower as Blossom’s soul is a little hurt by this.
A little confused and hurt, Blossom begins to uncover the other labels, lower and lower, which get worse and worse (worthless, fat, stupid, bitch, whore) and Raven picks out more and more petals as the words get worse and Blossom’s heart is totally destroyed, as is her flower by the end, but a couple of petals left. Raven leaves.
Blossom gets so depressed and distressed, she ends up on her knees facing the audience, holding out the flower in tears/anguish, with scissors around the neck of the flower contemplating ending its (her) broken life.
2:45 [only violin playing]
A friend, Angela, comes and sees the labels, and then sees Blossom and rushes to her to stop her.
2:55 [verse starts]
Angela tries, with a struggle, to get Blossom to look up at some higher labels, (which have been covered and up higher all along). Angela uncovers three, one at a time, (valued, intelligent, brave) (and puts the covering over some of the bad words) for Blossom as she looks up. Encourages Blossom to come and revealing the rest of the higher positive labels.
As she draws strength, Angela has to leave, but Blossom is now transfixed on these higher words and begins slowly revealing more positive higher up words (accepted, graceful, beautiful), covering the remaining bad words with the covers, and her joy returns
4:15 [end of verse]
Blossom spots the highest label she can’t reach. So gets a chair and places so she can climb and reach up to the final label. Puts her destroyed flower on the chair (hidden from audience now as the chair back is toward the audience)
4:35 [violin low and starts to climb]
slowly climbs onto the chair.
Blossom reaches up and reveals the last and highest label (“Loved child of God”) .
4:50 [orchestra comes in again]
Hopping down from the chair as Raven returns and looks at the wall.
Tries to get Blossom to look at the low words again, but Blossom refuses to look down, shaking her head at requests to reveal the lower words again.
5:18
Angela walks in (as a little audience distraction) and blossom grabs the stem of the flower on the chair (which is actually a new flower that is hidden and waiting on the chair). Raven and Angel are standing either side and looking at Blossom, who is looking up towards the good labels and, initially keeping the new flower head hidden behind the chair back, points out the middle high labels on the second last violin note with her hand.
5:24 [final high note (ending 2)]
Raises other hand with the new complete flower, and points it to the highest label “Loved child of God” - and holds.
[Raven and Angela hold too, standing side-on but looking up to the top label.].
Performance: Castle Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church - October 26, 2019