Become Ocean

The vast, undulating waves of the ocean are a metaphor for transformation and continuity. Inspired
by John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning composition Become Ocean (2014), the choreographic
duo Chen-Wei Lee and Zoltán Vakulya, known as LEE\VAKULYA, summon the unstoppable movement
of the tides in their new creation of the same title for the Hessisches Staatsballett. Adams’ orchestral
masterpiece can be read as an allegory of the climate crisis, while also serving as a powerful
meditation on depth, turbulence, eerie silences, and ultimate calm. For LEE\VAKULYA, however, the
piece also embodies the beauty of life’s circularity. They are drawn to nature’s graceful balance – one
that gives life, but through its immense force can also take it away – ultimately leading us back to our
origin.

 

The dance material arises from their shared passion for pure movement, with a focus on
fluidity and explosive energy. The choreographers incorporate Adams’ palindrome structure – a
sequence that reads the same forwards and backwards – into their choreographic process. Just as
the composition unfolds through musical layers that generate waves and splashes of sound, the
dance interweaves these depths, revealing moments of play and discovery. Become Ocean is a
tribute to our ever-changing world, defined by perpetual motion. Dance and music alike express this
through the alternation of harmony and dissonance – between the gentle, flowing tenderness of
water and the intense, stone-splitting tension of ice.