I was fortunate enough to catch the attention of Karole Armitage who was heading Maggio Danza, a ballet company based in Florence, Italy. We discussed various pieces of mine which might suit her company… I got the job.

With a commission to create a new work for them, I set about making this chess ballet into reality. I continued to choreograph as much as I could on paper and in my head. When I couldn’t be in a studio and needed to organize groups of dancers, I had often used chess pieces to represent the performers. I could slide them around my desktop and keep track of who exited to which side of the stage —but never before was it so appropriate!

Eventually, however, the time came to work with actual dancers…