The Delphic Preview

Festival of the Muses

The Delphic Preview: Festival of the Muses celebrates contemporary re-imaginings of Greek culture as they pertain to the ancient and eternal tradition of the Festival of the Delphic Games. The online event invites the global community to engage with ancient Greek art, music, dance, poetry, song, myth, sport and theater in modern iterations through live-streamed performances and discussions, and through the Garden of the Muses, a collection of videos, audio recordings, and scholarly articles.

The Festival is presented by Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in collaboration with the Isadora Duncan International Institute, the Ecumenical Delphic Union, and the Committee for the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games. Sponsors include MOISA: The International Society for the Study of Greek and Roman Music and its Cultural Heritage. The Festival is part of the larger initiative to further the ongoing modern reinstatements of the Festival of the Delphic Games to be held next in Delphi, June 2021.

All times in Eastern Daylight Time. Live stream available at chs.harvard.edu and on YouTube. Recordings will be available on YouTube.

‘Preview’ Aspects from the IDII include: 

Friday, June 19th
9:00-10:30am — Opening Ceremony

Zoie Lafis (Center for Hellenic Studies), Gregory Nagy (Center for Hellenic Studies), Panos Kaltsis (Ecumenical Delphic Union), and Jeanne Bresciani, Founding Chair of the Committee for the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games (Isadora Duncan International Institute).

A welcome message from the organizing institutions of the Delphic Preview, featuring the presentation of two dances:

In Tanagra Procession is a collaborative interpretation staged by Jeanne Bresciani for the Delphic Preview 2020 after the original study by Isadora Duncan on form and character as housed within the Tanagra figurines. Dancers within this digital project span diverse artistic backgrounds and locales across the globe from Japan to Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Hawaii, Canada and more locally within the continental United States forging a universality digitally through these ancient and eternal statements on the telos of personhood.

Ode to Nike: Triumph of the Human Spirit (excerpt), performed by Rosemary Cooper, choreographed by Jeanne Bresciani after fragments left from Isadora Duncan via Maria-Theresa Duncan, the “last dancing Isadorable” and co-founder of the Isadora Duncan International Institute, to Chopin’s legendary Heroic Polonaise Op. 53 in A Flat Major. In this historic encounter, homage is paid to Athena Pronoia gifted in foreknowledge of trial to triumph for the mitigation of suffering and the enhancement of soul.

“Living laws within the living body.” Isadora Duncan

Click here for a full schedule of events and materials within the Garden of the Muses 

All times in Eastern Daylight Time. Live stream available at chs.harvard.edu and on YouTube. Recordings will be available on YouTube.