The Pearl Necklace:

A Tribal Belly Dance Ballet Gone Wrong

ACT I

Scene 1

When the curtain opens, we see the deck of a navy ship and a stage how already in progress. It starts out as a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers type of song and dance routine. On board a ship. 1940's era. Several sailors dancing on deck. One sailor and a jazzy-look girl are dancing an elaborate ballroom-tap "show" for the rest of the crew. This is a happy, jovial, romantic scene.

Near the end of the dance, and off to the end of the stage, enters a male siren, and a couple of peaceful waves. They watch the humans dancing.

ACT I

Scene 2

After the dance sequence ends, the crew settles down to relax, but the siren runs in taking center stage momentarily, as he calls up a sudden storm and the storm waves begin tossing the ship and crew about. He falls to the back of the stage and watches as the storm waves destroy the ship and crew.

The girl is grabbed by the storm waves and is thrown over board. Crew tries desperately to save her, but the ocean's fierce storm waves take up the girl and drag her far out to sea away from the ship.

In the confusion caused by the waves' mad dance, the sailors can not tell which direction she has been pulled into and soon they are searching on the wrong side of the stage, while she is pulled farther and farther away. This is a dark fearful scene, with flashes of lightening and crashes of thunder.

Soon the sailors are no longer on the stage and it is just the girl struggling against the waves. This dance starts out wild and furious, but ends slow and quiet.

The ship and crew have disappeared off stage, and the girl is left alone tossed about in the sea. She struggles against the waves, but they toss her about and soon she in "unconscious" and being carried by the waves. They lay her on the floor, where she stays as though asleep, while the waves "crash" and dance violently around her.

The siren joins the waves in their wild dance. We learn from this scene that the siren, though human-like, is a savage creature. This is an elaborate and wild dance, somewhat tribal to the beat of wild drums.

The wave dancers wear loose flowing drapery of blues and aquas, and a grey-green tint. Slowly the siren grows tired of his games, he is ready for sleep and swims away off stage.

Once the siren has left, the night grows calm once again and the waves begin to dance more slowly. Without the siren to spur them on, the waves grow tired of their wild dancing and swirl about very slowly now, drifting farther and farther apart, as they drift one by one off the stage. Stage goes dark and silent.

ACT II

Scene 1

The stage slowly lights up pink and golden as though sunrise. Soon the stage is bright and well lit.

We see the girl laying asleep on the shore of a beach on a deserted island. Slowly she awakes (Her cloths in rags now.) She is dazed and confused. Looking around she slowly realizes what has happened, and now begins to panic. She runs to and fro along the shore call out for help and trying to see the ship. In despair she wanders along the shore.

The waves begin to come back on stage, slowly, creeping in on tip toe. They sneak up on the girl and reach out to touch her, but run back away quickly each time she turns back to look.

After a minute or two of this the waves become wild and stormy again and start to chase the girl and drag her back into the sea. The waves act like wild children, playing a game of ball. The frightened girl is being tossed about by the merry waves.

The terrified girl is being pulled under the water, she can not escape from them, she is drowning and being pulled off stage by the waves. We do not see the girl anymore.

ACT II

Scene 2

Amidst the crashing waves enters male siren (a type of merman). He dances with the waves, the waves dance with him. He and the waves are friends, lovers even. This dance is a joyous one. We are very deep below the ocean now. Long waves of blue drapes waft down from the ceiling. The siren and the waves dance among them.

Various sea creatures (a fish, an anemone, a star fish, etc) dart about here and there, dancing skittishly with the siren and the waves. Lightening crashes and lightening flashes. The sea creatures scurry away. The waves begin dancing wildly again.

The ceiling "wave drapes" disappear. The siren looks up at the storm over head, and swims to the surface, where the girl is losing her struggle against the wild savage storm waves.

The siren charges the storm waves. There is a battle between the siren and the waves as he chases them away. The storm waves leave and the peaceful waves return, the siren dances around the girl (who lays on the floor as though dead). He lifts her and carries her out of the water and into as dark subterranean cave.

The stage goes black once again.

ACT III

Scene 1

When the lights come back on, we see the inside of a dark cave. The walls are black with shimmering silver. Strings of pearls hang everywhere. There are "rocky" ledge ways to the back and sides of the stage.

To one side of the stage there appears to be a tunnel leaving the cave. (This is important later on... it is a tiny room, that can be entered).

Everything has the appearance of being wet and slippery. There is a mirror-like pool of water (which the dancers do not walk on) dividing the stage into 2 sections; they are connected by a rocky ledge way. The girl lays asleep on this "bridge".

The mood is quiet and peaceful, but with the air of being eerie and somewhat creepy... like walking into a misty graveyard at midnight, kind of feel.

The siren enters from out of the "tunnel" and is careful to cover the entrance to it with a drape of greenish brown kelpy seaweed. He dances about the cave. This is his home, where he lives, and his dancing tells us that. He is careful to be quiet around the girl, so not to wake her.

The siren picks one of the strings of pearls. There is an emphasis on the fact that THIS IS A VERY LONG STRING OF PEARLS. He lovingly strokes a string of pearls and than gently and lovingly places it around her neck.

He has very little to decorate his home with, save seaweed, which he is busy tidying, when the girl awakes. She has not yet seen him and is unaware he is in the cave with her.

Though he has rescued her, he is very shy and timid, scared of humans, and not sure if this human is to be trusted. He ducks away behind the ledge ways and keeps into the shadows, trying to always stay behind the girl, as she begins to explore the cave (in a slow dance).

She is fascinated by her strange new surroundings, and has for a moment forgotten about the storm. Her dance moves from slow exploration to a child-like joy.

The siren, staying a ways behind her, mirrors her movements in a timid tip-toeing mime.

Slowly, he loses his fear of her and begins to dance closer and closer to her. Suddenly her grabs hold of her, she screams and runs to the other side of the stage. (They are each on separate sides now, with the pool between them).

She has not seen the siren before now. She is terrified of his ghastly pale ghost-like and fish-like appearance.

She tries to hide behind the ledge ways, while he dances about trying to coax her back out. He takes several strands of pearls and dances with them. She slowly comes out of her hiding place to watch him dance.

He approaches her and timidly hands her the pearls, but runs away when she reaches out to take them. They are both frightened of each other, but this is what brings them closer, for each seeing the other's fear realizes they have nothing to fear, and soon they dance towards one another and begin to dance together.

He again hands her the pearls and this time lets her take them. This dance is very romantic, the two of them, dancing together, and with the pearls. The dance ends as though they were lovers.

As soon as the dance ends, however, she looks up and sees the tunnel. It is mysterious, and the girl seems drawn to it. She pulls away from the siren intending to explore the tunnel. He watches her for a moment. She reaches out to draw back the kelpy curtain from the tunnel entrance, but this action excites an enraged fury in the siren, who lunges at her and throws her aside.

She falls away terrified, as he calls up the storm waves who immediately run into the cave and begin to crash about the cave in a wild crazed dance of rabid furry.

He is clearly angry with her and she is terrified. The waves emphasize his anger. The dance ends when he enters the tunnel and the waves leave. The girl is now alone in the cave.

ACT III

Scene 2

The girl dances slowly around the cave seeking an exit, but sadly can find none. She is very tired from this day, and lays down to sleep.

The siren creeps quietly out from the tunnel and dances around her again. He kneels beside her and examines the long string of pearls. There is an emphasis on the fact that this very long STRING OF PEARLS IS NOW MUCH SHORTER than when we first saw it.

He lovingly strokes a string of pearls around her neck, then lays beside her and goes to sleep.

Quietly the tide comes in. The waves dance slowly around them. The waves lift the girl and carry her as the stage grows dark once again.

ACT III

Scene 3

The girl awakes on the beach once again. She dances along the beach in a dreamlike state as she wonders if the siren was real or if it was all a dream. She notices the string of pearls on her neck.

The long string of pearls is much, shorter now, the sun has dries the seaweed "string" and shrunken the necklace. She notices this, but thinks nothing of it, and continues dancing.

It is very important that she emphasize that THE NECKLACE IS MUCH SHORTER... GONE FROM A LONG STRING TO A COLLAR STRAND.

It is also important that she emphasize THE SUN IS VERY HOT.

her dancing becomes slower from the heat of the sun. Soon she finds it hard to breath. She must stop and rest. But suddenly fear strikes through her as she realizes that it is the necklace.

THE NECKLACE HAS GROWN EVEN SHORTER and has cut off her air. Desperately she struggles to pull it off, but it is too tight on her throat now, it is killing her, and the seaweed is too tough, she can not break it. She struggles against the string of pearls as it chokes the life out of her, and she falls dead on the beach.

The tide comes in and the waves carry her lifeless body back into the water. Back to the cave. The waves hand the dead body to the siren, who now carries her to the tunnel.

The backdrop curtain pulls away as he enters, turning the stage into the inside view of the tunnel, were lie the shipwreck victims of centuries past. The backdrop is parted horrifically of skulls and skeletons, piled in heaps.

On the floor lay the dead bodies of the sailors from the beginning of the story. He lays her dead body among the bodies of the sailors, as he and the waves dance cheerfully about.

Babaloo