This is a rather weird little scene from ancient Greece…I made the costumes (like always!) from recycled and vintage fabrics and for the style, I used a costume book. It´s not really genuine, but good enough for me.
I wrote the letter in real ancient Greek. But don´t ask me, what it says- Its something about philosophy, a text I found at the web….
The story is simple: Two sisters life in a small village near Athens, where they share a house.
One day, bad news arrives: Anthea, a professional dancer and relative of the sisters, announces her visit in a letter…and the trouble begins!
On a hot summers day in a small village, somewhere in ancient Greece, bad news arrives.
A neighbor comes in a hurry: “It´s all over the village! Is it true, what the rumour says? ANTHEA is coming for a visit?
“Yes. Unfortunatelly, it´s true! This is her letter….She arrives today!
“That´s horrible news! I really don´t like her! She is vain, selfish and talks about nothing but dancing!”
“Nobody likes her! But what do we expect? She is a professional dancer and that is all, she cares about- Exept of her own beauty! That woman is a horror!
“Oh sister, can´t we pretend, we´re out? Or left the country in a hurry? ”
“You know, we can´t! She´ll find us everywhere! So we must try to be good hosts on all costs!”
Not even the philosphers have a good advice for the poor sisters!
“Yes, we must be good hosts! That´s the morals! But she´ll make us all dance again, until we´re totally exhausted! Think at her last visit! We needed three weeks after she left, to get back on our feet and recover! I´m still limping a bit”
“Anyway! She´ll need some fresh water, if she arrives.”
“I go and get some….Maybe from the polluted well!”
There´s no way to hide…Soon before noon Anthea arrives in her travel-clothing.
“Welcome Anthea….How….good….to see you again!”
“Oh girls! I had SO MUCH FUN!”
“I danced at the palace of Ithaka!”
“And I danced before Helena of Troy! You can´t imagine, how beautiful she is! But not as beautiful as I am, of course!”
“How….very interesting, Anthea….After your long journey , don´t you wan´t some fresh water from the poll….I mean from the well nearby?”
“I don´t want water! Haven´t you some wine? Oh, come along! don´t be so boring and sit around all day Let´s dance! I´ll teach you a new style, I learned in Korinth”!
“No Anthea! Please DON´T!”
“Dancing is an ART!”
“More expression! None of you has discipline!”
“Oh mighty gods, please help us! I´can´t go on dancing!”
What will happen next? A sudden flash from the Olymp, to end Antheas promising career? Or will her victims strike back for once? Or maybe Anthea get´s bored with her hosts and hurrys to the next dancing-event to have another triumph?
That depends on your own fantasy!
The last scene, with the poor girl broke down, is actually my recreation of a scene on a vintage photograph from the 1920s, where the real dancers copy the style of Isadora Duncan.
That dancing-scene gave me some trouble…Have you ever tried zu make a Syb pose vertically without a stand? I don´t know, how often the dolls dropped down, before I managed them to pose in the right way. (Well, at least a little bit in the right way…)
And how to place the big vase or amphora on the syb´s head without having an accident? Don´t ask!
And there is another problem, I couldn´t fix: None of the girls wears shoes! It´s impossible, to find matching antique-style sandals for fashion dolls with high heel feet. But going barefoot was not uncommon in the ancient world, so I decided to skip that problem.
For the doodads and pieces in the background: Some of them are Roman or Etruscan replicas. The rest is modern tourist-stuff from fleemarkets or charity shops.
For the wigs- thank´s to Marcia again. They are not really ancient greek style, but look a bit in that way.