Butler gives off-Broadway’s ‘Metamorphosis’ a standing ovation
Maria Caruso’s contemporary solo ballet “Metamorphosis” brought audience members to their feet Tuesday night in Butler Intermediate High School’s auditorium.
Community members and students of SheLor School of Dance attended the free performance, which is part of Caruso’s Outer-Burgh Tour.
The show was created, choreographed, performed and costumed by Caruso for the off-Broadway stage, a global tour, and now, for local audiences free of charge. It’s been described as “a play without words.”
Lori Portman-Lewis, owner of SheLor School of Dance, introduced Caruso as an entrepreneur native to Rural Valley, Pa.
“We’re blessed to have such a talented performer with us,” Portman-Lewis said.
Caruso gracefully filled the stage every moment of the show, weaving different phases of life into one relatable piece. She depicted moments of pain and struggle as well as bliss and prosperity, trying on costume pieces throughout, shedding them, then coming back to a piece of fabric at center stage.
The crowd responded with a rousing standing ovation. Caruso then came center stage and addressed the audience about the piece.
“What I love about dance is we’re speaking with our bodies, and it’s up to your interpretation,” she said. “I spent a career telling other people’s stories, and someone asked ‘why don’t you tell your story?’”
She said the idea for “Metamorphosis" came from her life experience, as well as the different phases of growing up. Each life stage is represented by a dress hanging onstage, and is meant for the audience to relate to.
“The four dresses highlight four pivotal moments in my life. The black one is younger, growing pains. You’re mean to your parents; you want to jump out of your skin,” she said. “From the anger comes fear of not fitting in.”
Confidence and freedom are explored in the colors red and blue.
“Everybody has a red dress on in their early 20s saying, ‘Is being confident cool? Everybody thinks I’m arrogant,’” she said. “Why is being confident a crime? There’s a difference between confidence and arrogance.”
The blue dress Caruso described as “Bodiography Blue,” to represent her company and various accomplishments.
Each dress, once shed, brought her character back to the center fabric, she explained.
“You come in and out of these pivotal moments of time ... before the pivot happens, you go back to yourself,” she said.
Caruso took questions from the audience regarding the piece, and how she decided to do the Outer-Burgh Tour of her show.
“I don’t think arts are truly accessible in America. I was a small-town kid, rural town Pennsylvania. We don’t even have a stoplight to my knowledge,” she said. “Butler was always the (Clearview) Mall, and that was a big deal. I’m hoping this opens doors for people to experience the arts and how we all deserve them and how they should be accessible.”
Following the “Metamorphosis’” tour of the West End in London, Caruso said she will be retiring from full-time performing.
“I’m 41. I hope all these young faces can take my place,” she said of the dance students in attendance. “The next generation can hopefully carry the light forward.”
