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CRHYSALIS: AMERICAS  Oxford/NY
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New commission from the Oxford Alternative Orchestra, Hannah Schneider conductor, in collaboration with choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland.  

The Chrysalis project a multi-national initiative created by the artistic director Hannah Schneider in response to the pandemic, connecting internationally renowned film-makers, choreographers, composers, and the Oxford Alternative Orchestra. 
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Interview with Hannah Schneider
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​CHRYSALIS is a series of six videos, spanning six countries, that explores the idea that a particular kind of metamorphosis, transformation, and hope is only possible in a place of darkness. Each video is a fusion of the media of classical music, dance, and film, featuring original choreography set to new compositions recorded by the Oxford Alternative Orchestra (OAO). Under the artistic direction of conductor Hannah Schneider, the project comprises award-winning choreographers in Burkina Faso, the U.S., Russia, New Zealand, Korea, and the UK. Through the medium of film, each choreographer explores different interpretations of hope that have been illuminated, and even enhanced, by the darkness of the global pandemic we are all still experiencing. CHRYSALIS AMERICAS takes an allegorical approach to the theme of ‘chrysalis’, drawing on Aztec rituals of birth and death to explore the idea of emergence from a dark place into something grander and more complete.