About Encore (for the end of the world)

If one considers an A-bomb test as a rehearsal for mankind's ultimate performance, what would an encore look like? Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor provides the monumental "trois coups frappés" or tolling of the last bells for a strange, disembodied march to the scaffold. A black-clad figure (concert pianist or Death himself?) shares the screen with vintage black and white film of a desert bomb testing site, ending with a brief glimpse of the masters of war claiming their credit.

About Peter Sparling

Peter Sparling is Rudolf Arnheim Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Dance and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School, Sparling was a member of the José Limón Dance Company and principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company. He directed Michigan’s own Peter Sparling Dance Company from 1993–2008 and was recognized with the 1998 Governor’s Michigan Artist Award. He is a lecturer, published poet and essayist. His dances for video have been selected for numerous international festivals, including the New York Dance on Camera Festival, American Dance Festival, Lisbon’s InShadow Festival, DANCE:FILMS Glasgow, Screen Dance International and Ann Arbor Film Festival. His screendance, The Snowy Owl, was featured in the Court Métrage of the Cannes Film Festival 2015. His made-for-TV work, Climbing Sainte-Victoire, was broadcast on Michigan Television in 2009. The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival screened his video, “Winterreise”, with live musical performance at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2022. More recently, he shared lectures on Bach and the Dance with Eugene Drucker, violinist, as guest of the Berkshire Bach Society. An avid painter, Sparling has presented five solo exhibits and had works featured in numerous group shows.