Athena the Safe Son/Imaginative Conceptions
(2025)Commissioned by the Mnemosyne Arts Collective and The Department of Classical Studies at Wesleyan University, Athena the Safe Son brings to life the story of Athena’s mythological birth before she was known as the virgin goddess of wisdom and warfare. This commission is set to Eric Whitacre’s “The Chelsea Carol,” and performed to live accompaniment.
Athena used to have many names. For the Athenians, she was a kind of mother goddess, “Athena of the city,” who nourished her citizens with her olive tree and ensured their wealth and success. She was the weaver, the goddess of crafts and production – the potters prayed to her so that their pots wouldn’t explode in the kiln. She was a mistress of serpents, connected – through the old ways – to the underworld and afterlife. But these old roles…. faded. When we think of her now, we see her with a helmet and spear, breastplate and shield, the maiden warrior.
Wesleyan Memorial Chapel, Middletown, CT
YouTube Video coming soon!
DANCERS
Caroline Alter
Hope Blackburn-Shoup
Rebecca Pelleri
Ghislaine Van Den Heuvel