Big Auntie’s Pearls

A Choreo-Novel

By: Hope Gregory

Narrated by: Sanya Simmons

The choreo-novel Big Auntie’s Pearls is my attempt to expand upon form of dramatic expression known as “Choreopoem” which combines poetry, dance, music, and song. This term was first coined by the Great Ntozake Shange in her usage of traditional African-American storytelling in entertaining and teaching. My story with its implied plot uses theme elements with specific characters to hopefully evoke an emotional response from its listeners.

My story uses nontraditional spelling and vernacular written in Concert format, with each chapter called an Opus with three different movements as found in a Sonata or acts of an opera or a ballet. The four Opuses are infused with Intermezzo written in three-quarters time, giving those of us with short attention spans maybe a 12-hour listen or only an hour per movement.

The characters are mostly imagination fused with a matriarchal surname in a fictitious manner in helping Annamitta (Anna-mē-ta) tell her story of Big Auntie’s whispered “High Pearls of Burden”, combined with pseudonyms of persons and venerable institutions to avoid disparagement. I invite you to join this journey leading into the early 1900s in my native Southwest Georgia in the “Morning Star Suite”, beginning with Big Auntie's debut piano recital in the Southern hamlet of Boston before heading to college in Washington DC.

Annamitta enters the story as a six-year old as her “Sonatina” begins with a Polonaise North with her Mama Minnie Lou, where she learns dignified protest and discovers a talent for sewing. Annamitta’s adult dance kicks-off in what I like to call the “Honey Pot Suite” where a visit with her big sister Suzie Mae in Miami leads to an altercation with Trixie Dupree causing concern over Mr. Buddy J. Big Auntie’s Pearls journeys into a “New Day” of late 1959, when Annamitta’s skills help balance her academics with having a good time, easing the pressures of taking on more traditional roles amongst “Precious Pearls of the Sea.”

©2020 Hope Gregory (P)2023 Hope Gregory