My Second Family, A Bubble of Kindness

Clare Hardin started as a Revels Kid in elementary school, and then later in high school.  She has grown into an intern extraordinaire and current volunteer. The following is a guest post about her experience in the Washington Revels community, and why she thinks your kids would love to revels with us.

Dovie Thomason with Clare Hardin in the 2006 Christmas Revels.

Hi, I’m Clare, and I’ve been a “reveler” since I was born. Here’s some of my story.

My mom had already been to a few Washington Revels events because she knew Greg Lewis (Executive Director) and his wife Susan (Company Manager) who both sang with The Choral Arts Society of Washington. I guess that’s how we were introduced — and, my family has been involved since then. My dad was invited to be Music Director for the Christmas Revels in 1999 and 2000. I attended my first May Revels when I was two or three, watching my big sisters perform with the other kids. I’m sure I was waving a tiny ribbon stick to “welcome in the May-O.”

Clare as the May Queen  in the 2014 May Revels at the Washington National Cathedral.

All three Hardin sisters participated in May Revels as soon as we were old enough. My memories are happy ones of the cobbled path in front of the Washington National Cathedral, of dancing in hand-held circles, of cotton candy and repetitive verses of “The Rattlin’ Bog” that were somehow still fun after the 12th time. All three of us were also in the Children’s Chorus for several Christmas Revels productions — I performed in the 2006 and 2007 shows.

Clare with Dovie Thomason in the 2006 Christmas Revels.
From left to right: Umoja Rufaro, Keith Moore, Dovie Thomason, and Clare Hardin in the 2006 Christmas Revels.

My first Christmas Revels was in 2006 — the theme was “Early American.” I remember sitting around a pretend fire near Native American storyteller we knew as Dovie (Apache storyteller Dovie Thomason), in awe and feeling lucky I was chosen to be in that particular scene.

I remember being endlessly excited because I got the solo in “Morning Star,” and then nervous and embarrassed when during the first Lisner rehearsal, Music Director Betsy Fulford noticed that I was singing off-key. We were absolutely NOT allowed to eat in costume, except the clementines and goldfish in the kid’s Green Room. I got to tell my teachers that I was in a “big, important production” so I had to get my homework for “tech week” in advance. Staying up past 11pm was a big deal, and I got to do it every night for a show I loved.

Those productions were fantastic, but the thing about Revels is that the shows themselves aren’t the most important part — it’s the people and the community that matters. That community — my second family — raised me. They taught me values of acceptance, togetherness, cultural awareness, teamwork, respect, and more. To be a Revels Kid is a privilege, and I don’t know who I’d be without it.

Clare in the 2013 Teen Chorus in our Balkan Christmas Revels.
Clare (on right) with Terry Winslow and Aryn Geier in the 2013 Balkan Christmas Revels.

Fresher memories come from my four years as a teen in the Christmas Revels — they have been an integral part of my story. For a teenager dealing with the ups and downs of high school, Washington Revels was a refuge. It was a place where it didn’t matter if I had a bad day, if I didn’t feel like smiling. I would say that there is a sort of radical acceptance within the Washington Revels community, and you never have to ask for support — it was always there waiting for you. Though many people in my life outside the Washington Revels community knew about my Revels world, it still felt like a separate entity. It was my little bubble of kindness — where a 17-year old could laugh and sing alongside a 57-year old like they were best friends, where I learned to sing in 10 different languages, and more. Truly, there is no performing arts experience like it. There is no experience, in general, like it.

If your child or teen gets a chance to be a Revels Kid, they should do it. Take part in an After-School Workshop. Audition as a child or teen for The Christmas Revels (each year during the weekend after Labor Day).  Even if all you can do is come to a performance — do it! No matter who you are, you will be welcome. You will be loved. You will be valued. There is nothing more important than our community.

Revels and the Natural World

cherry blossom

In one of Washington Revels’ most-performed songs, “Country Life,” we sing: “I like to rise when the sun she rises, early in the morning/I like to hear them small birds singing, merrily upon their laylums.” A laylum is probably a bit of fallow land—it doesn’t matter; it’s a place where birds sing. Cheerful and bright, the song continues through the agricultural year. “In spring we sow, at the harvest mow; and that is how the seasons ‘round they go.”

Much of what we do at Washington Revels is rooted in the seasons. Spring is the star of our May Revels. During the hot days of summer, we march and sing in local parades. In our after-school workshops, children explore how people down the ages have interpreted the seasons in music, dance and drama.

In the Christmas Revels, we celebrate the time beyond the harvest, the darkest time of the year. Winter is a simple fact of our planet. Earth spins at an angle, its axis tilted at 23.4 degrees. When the top of the planet points toward the sun, the northern hemisphere basks in its warmth. But when our end of the planet points out into the universe, we shiver and draw close together. “They lighted candles in the winter trees/They hung their homes with evergreen,” Susan Cooper wrote in her poem “The Shortest Day,” recited near the end of every Christmas Revels performance. Each December we gather at Lisner Auditorium, “singing, dancing, to drive the dark away.”

Usually, in the Christmas Revels, we visit one or more specific cultures and eras, exploring how people in different places and times have celebrated the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. Nature is present primarily as a backdrop to rural life. This year, nature comes to the forefront, as we explore our relationship with the natural world. The time period is less defined than usual, over a thousand years ago, in the Middle Ages. Back then, it was hard to escape our planet’s physics. When the world was cold and dark, we were cold and dark. Nearly everyone had to think about plants and pests, and whether the chickens would stop laying or the river would flood.

Today, some of us are still closely tied to the physical world. There’s a farmer in our chorus, for example. But many of us might think we can wall ourselves off from nature. Convenience stores will sell us eggs at any hour of the day or night. We have concrete, insulation, and elevators.

We are still part of this planet, though. Life feels different when the sun sets so early. Our city can shut down for days if the wrong set of air masses happens to collide over us. As we come together this weekend—whether on one of Washington’s oddly warm December days or whether the snow has begun—let’s sing together of peace and warmth, and look forward to when the sun comes back, the forsythia bloom, and the cherry trees let their clouds of petals fly.

A version of this essay appears in this year’s Christmas Revels program.
Photo: Helen Fields, thinking of spring

Buy your Christmas Revels tickets now.

Over Hedges and Stiles

“We have traveled many miles, over hedges and stiles.”

That’s a line from “Please to See the King,” a song in this year’s Christmas Revels.

I’ve been singing in the Christmas Revels chorus since 2004. Being involved with Revels has changed a lot about my world. It has brought me beloved friends, fulfilling performances, and connection with strangers, in the Christmas Revels and other events through the year.

It has also made me think more about my relationship with nature. Living in the city, like I do, it’s easy to ignore the natural world. But almost everything we do in Revels relates to the seasons. As the days get shorter and winter approaches, I treasure the weekly opportunity to sing and dance with my village, the Christmas Revels chorus. Then, in summer, I get to sing about the joys of the growing season, instead of cursing the humidity.

“Please to See the King” is one of many songs that make me think of the British countryside. In this case, it’s quite a direct connection: the landscape of much of Britain is crisscrossed with hedges. They’re practical, living fences. If properly maintained, they’re dense enough to keep livestock in the correct pasture. Gates and stiles are built into gaps in the hedges so people and dogs can pass through.

In July 2013, my friend Kate and I spent a week walking through the Cotswolds, a lovely patch of England that is particularly pastoral. We walked along a lot of hedges and climbed over a lot of stiles. This was the first one.

woman climbing over stile

Revels is so woven into my mind that when I cross a stile in a hedge, I think, “hey! that’s a hedge and a stile!” and the familiar song starts, then continues on. “In search of our King, unto you we bring. Old Christmas is past….”

Photo: Helen Fields

Blessed by the Survachka

Assen Assenov (right), with his wife Simona Assenova, explains the tradition of the survachka to the Revels chorus.
Assen Assenov (right), with his wife Simona Assenova, explains the tradition of the survachka to the Revels chorus.

Last week Assen Assenov, a leader in the Washington-area Bulgarian community, and his wife Simona Assenova stopped by rehearsal for the Christmas Revels.

First they taught our Wednesday Night Work Party volunteers how to make a survachka, a stick that Bulgarian children use to bless their elders on New Year’s Day. (And by “bless” I mean “tap.” Or “beat.”)

Children make their own sticks, and each has its own unique flair. So did the sticks the volunteers were putting together last week.

After the rehearsal, Assen told the chorus about the tradition of the survachka, and Simona demonstrated the blessing, tapping him on the shoulder with her decorated stick.

He also shared this lovely thought:

“Thank you for taking my culture and spreading it to more people. If you could spread my culture to just one more person, you would be my hero. I love my culture, but I also love learning about other cultures, too; that’s what makes us richer.”

If you want to be blessed by the survachka this December, buy your tickets for the Christmas Revels now!

Dancing (and singing) children

Children dancing
The Christmas Revels children’s chorus learning the “podaraki” dance from tradition-bearer Olga Vonikaki.

This year, the children will not only sing in Greek, Bulgarian, Turkish, Croatian, and English… but they will also dance! Our children’s directors Kat Toton and Jenni Voorhees (along with children’s stage manager, Emilie Moore) couldn’t do all of this without help from our amazing specialists and tradition-bearers.

Last Wednesday, the kids had a visit from Olga Vonikaki who taught them the Greek podaraki dance, and I was lucky enough to get to watch the process.  The children worked hard (and had lots of fun) learning the new dance–one of three that they will perform in the show.  During previous rehearsals, Larry Weiner (another of this year’s tradition-bearers) taught the children two other dances for the show.

Olga is the perfect teacher for our Washington Revels kids.  She was born in Kavala, Greece, where she studied Greek dancing and performed with many groups across the country. Since moving to the the US more than twenty years ago, she has been teaching Greek traditional dancing, specializing in leading children’s dance groups, one of which won the silver prize at the East Coast Greek Youth Competition.

Our Christmas Revels children range in age from 8-11, and come from Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.  Each year in September, we select about 14-16 from the total of 60+ who audition. And, in addition to selecting children for The Christmas Revels, we also select 25 additional children for our May Revels chorus.  The kids begin rehearsing in mid-September on Wednesday afternoons and join the Adult and Teen choruses during one weekend rehearsal in October, and another in November.  Soon after that, in December, everyone will be together each and every night for an entire week.

These kids are looking and sounding great already… and soon they will be fully costumed by Cecily Pilzer (their own costume designer)!  The children usually “steal the show” each year, and this one will likely be no exception.

Learn more about the 2013 Christmas Revels: Echoes of Thrace
View the Schedule of Performances and Purchase Tickets

Winter Concert at the Birchmere

Singers from the Revels (left) and the Ocean Orchestra (right) practice in the rehearsal room, which has a lot of Andalusian props in it right now. Photo: Helen Fields

Back in the early 90’s, Washington Revels did a few post-Christmas shows at the Birchmere with the local folk-rock band The New St. George. Now the New St. George’s leader, Jennifer Cutting, has a fabulous new band, and we’re reuniting with her to do a show tonight at the Birchmere!

Monday night was our last rehearsal–the show is tonight at 7:30. We ran through a few songs from this year’s Christmas Revels and also practiced with Jennifer Cutting’s Ocean Orchestra.

The biggest thing we do at Washington Revels is The Christmas Revels, but we have lots of events through the year, too. I love this kind of gig, where we don’t have much rehearsal and the directors are figuring things out on the fly. Some of the arrangements changed over the weekend. The mummers rehearsed their play tonight for the first time. It feels very seat-of-the-pants, but it’s great to know that we can put together a great show quickly, after the massive, months-long project of The Christmas Revels.

The mummers rehearse. With Betsy Miller as the doctor, Glyn Collinson as St. George, and Guen Spilsbury as the dragon. Photo: Helen Fields

Learn more about this event and purchase tickets
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Tarasque Spotted in Wild

Chorus member Terry Winslow e-mailed this photograph of a tarasque to the chorus this week:

A tarasque in Provence. Photo: cyark.org

Here’s proof that the tarasque is a real live piece of Provence’s folk history: a carving on a column at the church of Saint-Trophime in Arles. If I understand the construction history correctly, the oldest parts of the complex date back to the 12th century. This column is part of the cloister next to the church. Explore the church on this nifty website.

Three of the tarasques. Photo: Helen Fields

Terry’s wife, Diane, was the one who had the idea to knit tiny tarasques, and she pointed out how much this carved tarasque looks like my design. My brilliant team of tarasque knitters used my pattern to produce 10 of the little guys to be sold at the merchandise table the second weekend of The Christmas Revels.

If you’re a knitter, the tarasque has its own pattern page on Ravelry, although I haven’t uploaded the pattern yet.

Learn more about Washington Revels

Goodbye to Andalusia

Chorus member Charles Blue carries a piece of the gorgeous flooring from the stage. Photo: Helen Fields

Well, it’s over. Our beautiful Andalusian world has been dismantled.

The final step in The Christmas Revels is taking down the set and moving all of our things out of the theater that we’d occupied for the last two weeks.

The entire cast helps out with strike. The actual set was mostly taken apart by professionals wielding power tools. The main task for the rest of us is carrying things. Props, pieces of flooring, bundles of costumes tied up in sheets. When the truck was full, anyone who was available drove to the Revels office in Silver Spring to move everything back off the truck. I’m not usually one for volunteering for extra heavy lifting, but I know it goes better with more people, and I didn’t have to get up early in the morning.

A box of programs makes the trip back down from the mezzanine. Photo: Helen Fields

We formed bucket brigades passing merchandise up to the mezzanine, programs to the mezzanine, programs back down from the mezzanine (there was indecision about the programs), props into the rehearsal room to await sorting, hair and makeup supplies down to the basement, and programs to their final location, stacked on a landing halfway to the basement. It was midnight when I left the office.

The enchantment has ended. The magnificent treasure room has somehow turned back into two-by-fours and piles of elderly sofa cushions. And those of us in the chorus go back to our regularly scheduled lives as lawyers and teachers and speechwriters and science writers–taking the memory of Al-Andalus forward into the world.

The tarasque returns to its basement lair at the Revels office. Photo: Helen Fields

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There’s a Wig Under There

Most of us get to walk around on stage with our own hair showing, but if your hair is too short or too pink, you have to wear a wig. Yesterday Jane Bloodworth, alto section leader and all-around awesome person, was kind enough to let me take pictures of having her wig put on with the help of volunteer Barbara Brodie.

First step: Fluffing up Jane's hair in front. Photo: Helen Fields

Jane’s hair is pinned down in the back, but nice and floofy in front. That’s because the front of her hair will be combed over the front of the wig to make it look more natural.

Pins hold the wig to Jane's hair underneath. Photo: Helen Fields

When we do the show over and over, first in practice, then in performance, we start to notice who we run into as we move around the stage during the show. There are some people I never see – I have exactly one chance to stop and chat with my friend Autumn Wilson, and a moment near the beginning where I say hi to Will Wurzel. Otherwise I hardly see either of them. But there are at least three points in the show where I look behind me and see Jane. I like knowing that, at any point, this smiling face could appear behind me.

Ready to go on stage. Photo: Helen Fields

Doesn’t her wig look great? I’m always happy to see this face behind me. (I feel lucky to hear her voice behind me, too – Jane’s a great singer.)

Learn more about the 2011 Christmas Revels: Andalusian Treasures
View the Schedule of Performances and Purchase Tickets

Eating, Singing, and Hydrating After the Show

A group of teens (and former teens) lead us in a favorite song from the American show. Photo: Helen Fields

This year the evening performances of The Christmas Revels are over at about 10:15. After the show I hang around in the lobby to chat with any friends who were at that performance, then go upstairs to get out of costume, wash my face, and leave the theater.

Then I have two choices: Go home or go to Bertucci’s. Last Saturday night my choice was Bertucci’s. It’s an Italian restaurant in the lower level of a shopping mall near Lisner Auditorium. For several years, people from the cast, crew members, specialty performers, and friends have been retiring there after the evening performances to eat and drink. They do a great job of looking after us. They even keep the kitchen open late, bless them. (For the past few years, we’ve sung “Happy Birthday” to one of the waitresses – somebody had better remember that tonight or tomorrow.)

This is Revels, so singing is a big part of the event. We sing Revels standards, like “Let Union Be” and “Country Life.” Favorite songs from the shows find their way into the Bertucci’s repertoire; the American-themed Christmas Revels show from 2006 has a particularly large number of very singable songs. Some years the specialty performers lead us in song and dance. In 2008, the Quebecois dancer Pierre Chartrand called some fantastic dances.

Some nights a lot of people go; after a particularly long day (or before a particularly long day) more of us might make the other choice, to go home and get some rest. There’s a risk of messing up your voice or making yourself too tired for the next day’s performances. I don’t know if I’ll have enough energy for Bertucci’s either night this weekend.

This is Revels. I love performing, but our get-togethers at Bertucci’s really get to the essence of the experience: celebrating with your community in song and dance.

Learn more about the 2011 Christmas Revels: Andalusian Treasures
View the Schedule of Performances and Purchase Tickets