Get ready for some CHAOS

CHAOS was an original production from Troy University's Theatre and Dance department.

Published with The Tropolitan on Feb. 8, 2024.

These days, the origin of the universe is explained by proposing a big bang; a single event bringing into being all of the matter from which everything and everyone is made. The ancient Greeks had a different idea. 

This line from “Mythos” by Stephen Fry can quickly summarize the Troy University Theatre and Dance Department’s original production of “CHAOS,” a choreographed retelling of the Greek creation myth.

“Unlike dance productions we have done in the past, ‘CHAOS’ tells a sustained story, so rather than seeing individual stand-alone pieces, the audience will experience dance much as they would film,” said Deborah Hicks, the coordinator of dance for the Theatre and Dance Department and director of “CHAOS.” 

Since 2008, Hicks has experimented with the idea of Greek and Roman myth, aided by her previous experience as a literature teacher for 36 years. It wasn’t until three years ago when the idea solidified in her head. 

“I was listening to a random mix when Debbie Wiseman’s ‘Story of Chaos’ began to play,” Hicks said. “When Stephen Fry began to narrate, I stopped, sat down on a wall in someone’s front yard and listened to it at least three times before I resumed my walk.

“There was no doubt in my mind that I was listening to a dance concert, and a really exceptional one.”

It took three years for the dance department to dip their toes into creating this original work, however they soon found themselves “embedded in myth.” 

“It’s a journey from chaos, to order, and back to chaos again,” said James Boyd, a professor of dance for Troy University, and choreographer for “CHAOS.” 

After completing research on Greek myth, Hicks and the dance department began writing the story, finding music, and completing the narrative they wanted to tell. 

“Once we had the narrative, we began to fit music to stages of the narrative, and James Boyd began to work a choreographic magic none of us has ever before experienced,” Hicks said. “Like the birth of Chaos, it slowly but surely began to take shape before our eyes.” 

Boyd’s abstract and particular movements throughout the production’s choreography aim to exhaust the Trojan Center theater and help create an immersive experience for the audience: with a dynamic scenic design with multiple moving parts.  

“We’re under the stage, we’re on top of the stage, we are exiting left and right,” Boyd said. “Things are flying in, flying out, things are pushed on, pushed off. Our scenic design is an environment that also dances, so everything that you’re seeing, including the lights, are moving.” 

Students share in the faculty’s enthusiasm for this production, who have been preparing for this show since September 2023. Jaala Hall, a senior dance major from Eclectic, Alabama, has been preparing to perform her role as Themis, the goddess of order and justice. 

“I think the message that the story is trying to convey is really just about the human condition,” Hall said. “Even if these aren’t necessarily humans that we are portraying, we can show that it’s just inevitable that everybody’s going to have that type of outcome. Regardless of whatever happens, order is going to appear, but also chaos at the same time.” 

Hicks states that the cast has been excited to learn and experiment with their characters, going as far as to create a family tree of their characters, complete with their own baby pictures. 

“Never have I seen the kind of genuine curiosity and honest excitement as I have in this cast as they research, read, and listen to the stories about the gods they are portraying,” Hicks said. The students delve into their characters through mood boards, research, one-on-one meetings with the choreographer and director, even creating large Jenga blocks to express their character. 

“The one sentence I hear on a weekly basis is, ‘I have never felt this way about anything else I have ever danced,’” Hicks said. “They wonder at this fact. I do not.”

Now with only one week to opening night, faculty and students are nervous, placing finishing touches on their production. 

“In [almost] four months [production time], we've come together and we've created this story,” Boyd said. “What's important to know about this production is that within an almost impossible timeframe - what seems like would be impossible - we took a dive and kept pushing. 

“Our students, our pre-professionals, are absolutely wonderful.” 

Audience members can expect to explore this mythos with the theatre and dance department February 15 to February 25, where faculty hopes to spark a curiosity within the audience.

Students can purchase tickets at the Troy Theatre and Dance Website.