by Londyn Skye
As the brooding piano music continued and the power of the timpani was nearing its peak, another flash of light appeared. But this time, the dark silhouette of a man holding a sword high above his head was cast onto the thin, curtain-like sheath. Before being drowned by darkness, the audience reacted audibly again to the sudden appearance of the shadowed knight. As the booming bass sounds of the percussion continued, the light appeared briefly again and unveiled the silhouette of a woman on a makeshift mountain, clinging to a child. When the light faded out again, the mysterious music began to gather speed. Together, with the intensity of the rolling timpani, the entire orchestra roared into a sensational climax, meeting the exact moment that an explosive burst of flames erupted on both sides of the stage. Simultaneously, the white sheath lit up in full brilliance, revealing the dark shadow of a fire-breathing dragon, standing between the damsel on the mountain and the armored knight. With a constant beam of light now shining behind them, their large dreamlike images were all etched in permanence onto the sheer sheath. Just then, a mighty duel commenced between the dragon and the knight.
After the very first shadowy fireball erupted, William began pounding away at the keys, unleashing sinister sounds that coincided with the movements of the dragon. As soon as the knight took his first swing, ominous chords of music from a second piano became intertwined with the movements of the knight, as he began jousting to take down the looming dragon. Hidden behind the scenes, Lily had watched and waited patiently for her cue to begin a musical duel with her very own mentor. While the dreamlike shadows were locked in war, Lily and William were in a musical fight of their own, even playfully exchanging mean glares with one another as they battled each other with their menacing melodies.
Lily’s playfulness proved that she was confident, relaxed, and completely lost in the moment the way she needed to be. Her calm demeanor was attributed to the warmth of James’s words from the night before still caressing her soul. James, on the other hand, was anything but calm. His excitement was at immeasurable levels. The moment he heard Lily join in the battling duet, his face lit up just as bright as the amphitheater lighting. He, along with the rest of the audience, watched the elegant dance between blade and flame in awe, completely enraptured by every note that Lily had composed. The continuous discharge of flames on either side of the stage had everyone physically reacting every time the dragon hurled shadowed fireballs toward the knight’s shield. Having never seen imagery of the sort, the audience fought the urge to blink, not wanting to miss a second of the poetic silhouette movements of the armored hero wielding his sword to strike down the fire-breathing beast.
While riding on a confident high, Lily continued delicately trotting across the keys, playing musically in sync with her knight. Not long into the battle, William’s melody began to chop, slow, and fade, along with the life of the wounded dragon that his fingers were representing. When the dragon began to falter, the knight hurled his sword end over end in its direction. Just before the blade reached the creature, the light and all music ceased, leaving the audience with sudden silence and darkness. After a few moments of suspense, muted sound, and blindness, the timpani rolled into ascension, joined shortly thereafter by the entire orchestra, just as the bright and beautiful light source returned. At the peak of the orchestra’s crescendo, a magnificent display of fireworks was set off into the sky in celebration of the heroic knight, whose larger-than-life shadow now stood with the slain dragon lying near his feet. He then pulled his sword from inside the beast and raised it in victory, invoking massive cheers from the delighted spectators. Fireworks continued to rain colorful sparkles into the star-filled night sky, in time with tickling piano notes that were equally as beautiful as the silhouette of the knight embracing his rescued family.
When the fireworks trickled away, and the applause finally settled, every member of the symphony returned to play for the next song, except for William. With the slaying of the dragon, he had playfully placed his hand over his heart and pretended to pass away along with the beast, causing Lily to giggle. William then got up from his piano bench, smiled, and bowed toward Lily with pride. Lily smiled back as he waved his hand toward her, symbolizing that he was now passing the piano reins solely to her for the remainder of the show. After playing just two songs, William returned to his role as the orchestra’s conductor, feeling as though he had fulfilled his obligation to give the audience what they had initially come to see.
After proudly taking the reins William had handed her, Lily began the next music-infused, dreamlike story. The melody Lily played for this occasion was light and uplifting and was, once again, intertwined with the movements and emotions of all the shadowed characters. It began with the prince and his child after they had returned home to their castle. The prince left his armor and savage side behind and let loose his gentler side. His shadow tossed his young daughter into the air, read her stories, and taught her songs on the piano. Each time the little girl sat at the piano with her father, the stage would fade into darkness and light up again to reveal the prince sitting next to an older child. The little girl grew and grew until the lights faded in for a final time with the prince’s daughter now sitting alone at the piano, surrounded by a symphony of violins, cellos, and soft harps while her father watched on from afar. For the first time in the show, it was Lily who sat in front of the projection of light with her dreamlike silhouette cast out to the audience onto the sheer sheath that protected her identity. She was portraying the prince’s adult child while the student orchestra swayed eloquently as shadowed figures by her side. The crowd, none the wiser to who she was, applauded in grand fashion when she softly completed the piece and the light slowly faded away.
Lily looked over at William when that song was over. He gazed back and gave a proud smile, but she did not hold his gaze for long for fear that she would cry. Lily had not told William, but the shadowed story about the knight, as well as that particular song, had been inspired by simply knowing him. Lily wished that she had been rescued by William along with Anna Mae and her children. Many times, she had fantasized about William nurturing her until adulthood, passing his fatherly love, guidance, and knowledge down to her. The imagery of the prince with his child was the fairytale version of the way she had always imagined it would be while she stood alone at William’s lake some days letting her imagination run free.
For a little over an hour, Lily and the student orchestra played seven more glorious songs in conjunction with actors and dancers, who portrayed stories as silhouette shadows on the specially designed material that spanned across the stage. The stories ranged from silly satires to simple dances to very deep and emotional. But most importantly, as requested, not once was there a single face of the orchestra, or other participants, revealed to the crowd, that is … until the very last song.
Before the final song was to begin, William made his way to the forefront of the stage to the applause of the awaiting audience. “Have you all enjoyed tonight’s show thus far?” he asked, once everyone had settled.
Everyone applauded in affirmation of his question.
When all was quiet, William took a deep breath to calm himself and clasped his hands together behind him. “Well, I must confess, I cannot take all the credit for tonight’s incredible showing,” he admitted. The very second he made his confession, his paranoia raced to a new high and sweat began to quickly accumulate on his brow. He then nervously cleared his throat before he continued. “You see, I had the honor of collaborating with a rather extraordinary young lady, who at the age of ten-years-old, despite incredible odds, taught herself to play the piano. In fact, most everything you have seen and heard tonight has come from the creativity and imagination of her ingenious mind. And so, it is not I alone that you owe your appreciation of this evening’s entertainment.” People in the audience began to turn and look at each other with questioning eyes, but William was not detoured. He took another deep breath and proceeded. “So, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to prou
dly present to you the true mastermind behind tonight’s mystifying show.” With the wave of his arm, the stage was overcome by darkness. When William disappeared once more, a solo piece from the piano began to play softly and the white sheath illuminated, displaying the first of a series of sentences upon it:
I lost my mother 14 years and 4 months ago…
The sentence faded away and another illuminated. Every line thereafter continued in the same fashion:
But she did not pass away
Nor did she abandon me
In front of her very eyes
I was stolen from her
All that I have left of her now
Is the distant memory of her face
And this very song that I play
A song that keeps her alive in my mind
Along with the belief that one day
I WILL see her again…
When the words concluded, the stage remained enveloped in darkness until Lily’s solo climaxed and transitioned into a melody of anguish. It was then that ballet dancers took to the stage behind the screen with graceful movements in front of the light. Their silhouettes appeared to float from place to place as they began the final dream story with the ugly scene of a child being pulled away from her mother. The child’s distress was apparent by the way she was carried away kicking and reaching out for her mother, who was being held back by two large men. Their shadowed movements were silent, but the desperation in their body language and the pain in the music spoke loudly for them.
In the scene that followed, the young girl was perched on an auction block as shadows danced violently around her in unison. They circled her like ravenous lions around their prey, throwing their hands up in rhythm with the melody. From high to low, Lily’s music sank into a dismal plethora of notes that mirrored the confused mind of the child, who stood as prey to the animalistic men surrounding her. Much like the young girl, every note seemed to be crying, while the sullen sound of the strings added to the heaviness of her ordeal. With the conclusion of their predatory dance, all the greedy men, except one, hung their heads low and rhythmically took slow steps away from the auction block. The one man remaining crept slowly in sync with the beat toward the vulnerable child, proudly displaying chains high above his head. When he reached her, all music and lighting ceased.
When next the little girl’s silhouette appeared, she knelt alone, scrubbing a floor in a tattered dress, her arms sweeping side to side to the softness of nothing but violins. The piano then began to tiptoe in to join them, along with a little boy who quietly appeared behind the little girl. He curiously watched her from afar but then quickly disappeared when the little girl felt his presence and turned to see who was there. She stood slowly and gallivanted across the stage alone with her dress flowing behind her, being just as playful as any child would. Suddenly, though, she stopped to tinker with a piano. She then danced and twirled around it with ballet-style pirouettes and leaps as she neglected her duties, until colliding unexpectedly with the evil man who once held the chains. He angrily waved his finger in her face. She hung her head in shame, dropped back to her knees, and continued scrubbing and swaying in time with the soft violins as the light faded out.
When the sheer sheath brightened again and represented a new day, the young girl in her tattered garments rose from a stack of hay. In sneaky fashion, she proceeded to leave her resting place, escaping to an outdoor place that only a child could see as a world of wonderment. As the little girl carried on in her wooded playland, the music suddenly began to float as beautifully as the butterflies and birds that surrounded her. She then picked up a turtle and twirled him around, but she would soon learn that she was not alone. The little boy, who had curiously watched her earlier, peered at her now from behind a tree and was forced to reveal himself when he tripped and fell from behind it. The music momentarily ceased as the young boy and girl stared at one another. In dramatic fashion, they slowly approached each other, their footsteps represented by the light touch of the highest key on the piano. When they reached one another, together, they held the turtle high in the air, and the entire symphony crescendoed once again. With happy and uplifting notes as their guide, the two children sat their turtle down and suddenly danced playfully in unison, chasing the butterflies and the birds above them. The ease of their beautiful bond brought an instant smile to every audience member’s face.
With each new day that passed, the two young children continued their adventures together, fishing, climbing trees, and reading books together. Their friendship was acted out through elegant artistic dances, making it clear that the strength of their relationship continued to grow along with the size of their dreamlike images. The entire visual reflected the passing of years, all while Lily and the orchestra captured the emotion of their journey through her carefully crafted ensemble.
It was clear to the audience that this last shadowed story was about a slave. A few, who had attended William’s gala, surmised that it was the same young lady they had seen play there. But that did not seem to matter to anyone this time. Only seeing the shadow of a child, with no true color or identity, managed to quickly turn off everyone’s prejudices, allowing her story to resonate with them in a truly profound way. The music and stunning visuals further penetrated their emotions, making it nearly impossible for them to pull their eyes away as the story continued to unfold of a unique friendship between a young white man and a young lady, who was undeniably a slave.
And so, as the young twosome gallivanted fluently across the satin sheet, the audience remained awestruck by the beauty of their innocent dance as it slowly flourished into one filled with deep emotion. But just as the crowd began to feel the intensity of the pair’s connection, the graceful dance between them was interrupted by the appearance of the villain who once held the chains. He danced onto the stage in a manner all his own, to notes now filled with anger. Suddenly, the two dear friends no longer danced as one. Slowly, they drifted apart. Closer and closer, the young man pranced toward the villain, gradually adopting his soldier-like moves and dancing in step with him instead. He and the villain then quickly disappeared from view, leaving the young lady to dance in solitude to the now weeping melody of Lily’s piano until the light melted away.
When the light illuminated again, the story began to show the passing of years. The young lady’s age and loneliness were reflected by the sorrow in the music and the slow emptiness of her movements. Her unique friend and the birds, butterflies, piano, and books they beautifully danced around, she now only experienced in her dreams. Every night as she slept, they all appeared as elusive illusions, bringing temporary joy back to her life and into the beautiful piano music that accompanied them. Sadly, though, the aging woman awakened each morning to the misery of an empty room, left only with the monotony of scrubbing kitchen floors all alone, year after painful year.
As the emotional music continued, the light soon revealed the silhouette of the once youthful girl as an old woman, hunched over, clenching tight to a walking cane, unable to move as gracefully as she once had. With Lily’s symphonic music guiding her, the old slave lady hobbled over to the piano that she once drifted around as a child and touched it gently. She then painstakingly made her way out to visit the tree that she once climbed with her friend. She looked up at it and let the precious memories it held prance in her mind. Afterward, she crept back to the haystack that had been her lifelong resting place. She slowly sat down and laid her walking cane next to her. From a hidden compartment, she then pulled out the book that her old friend had once shared with her during happier years. She opened it and ran her fingers slowly down the page before lying back and placing the book upon her chest. On this night, when she finally drifted off to sleep, her dream was unlike all the others in the previous nights, and so, too, was the sorrow in the music that Lily’s orchestra now played. This time, there were no mystical visions of butterflies fluttering randomly from place to place, and no birds to chase. Her dreams did not show her the tree t
hat she once loved to climb or the face of her dear friend. Instead, drifting high above where her motionless body lay, she was graced with the image of someone she had not seen since her childhood.
The soft hymns of a choir suddenly joined in with the harps, other strings, and the piano of Lily’s orchestra. When the harmony began, an apparition adorned in a flowing robe, floating above the old lady’s bed, suddenly spread its wings far and wide. The girl who had spent her life enslaved had lay for the last time on her makeshift hay bed. Her shadowy soul began to rise from her lifeless body toward her angelic mother as she awaited her daughter in the sky with her wings lovingly outstretched, ready to finally set her only child free. As her soul rose toward her angelic mother in the sky, so too did Lily, along with the grand piano she sat playing. She rose slowly into the view of the crowd from the pit beneath the stage that William had been lowered into during his act of illusion. Throughout her ascent, Lily felt her heart in her throat and her nerves beginning to attack. But despite it, she kept the ultimate composure. Fully prepared for the serious risk, she reached the top of the stage. Alone, she played stoically in front of everyone, figuratively naked, with no sheer curtains, nothing to hide her true identity, putting an end to the mystery of the show’s actual creator. As soon as Lily was in full view, the harmonies from the choir deepened and radiated out into the field. At that very moment, the angelic mother, floating high above everyone, wrapped her wings warmly around her daughter’s spirit, embracing her for the first time since she was stolen away from her as a child.
