September 24, 1998
By Hazel Boyd
Between 1785 and 1812 Martha Ballard, kept a diary that recorded her arduous work -in 27 years she attended 816 births- as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, which then included both the present city and Augusta. As a record of 27 years of daily activity, in an era of limited female literacy, Ballard’s writing provides a unique opportunity to understand women’s lives in the late 18th century from a female perspective. The diary, notable for its detail and accuracy as well as its length, illustrates the importance of women in 18th century society and economy. Women were the primary health care providers and produced food and other products for their families and for sale and barter in Hallowell. Ballard, for example, made medicines from herbs, tended to all kinds of illnesses and often stayed up all night tending sick neighbors since doctors were in short supply. In her practice as a midwife, but also in her daily activities, Martha Ballard traveled in all seasons, attending births, caring for the ill, exchanging goods, sharing news, fellowship, and misfortune. Donovan's dance will explore what she sees as the essence of Ballard's life, the cooperative spirit of trade and exchange in northern New England 200 years ago.
Donovan's production is the latest interpretation of the life of Martha Ballard, joining the 1991 book A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich which won the Pulitzer and Bancroft Prizes for history, and a PBS film by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt based on the book which aired in January.
Donovan, who is related to Ballard through her great-grandmother, said in a phone interview that she first heard of Martha Ballard from a newspaper clipping sent to her by her mother. It wasn't until she saw a screening of Kahn-Leavitt's documentary film at MIT, though, that she began to see elements in the Ballard story she felt she could incorporate into dance: "I began to see movements," she said. As Donovan began choreographing those movements into a dance, she also became more curious about Ballard's life. After reading Ulrich's book, she got in touch with the author and got permission to use Ulrich's book title for her dance. She also asked for suggestions on researching Ballard. Then she visited the Maine State Library to read the diary herself.
Where Ulrich and Kahn-Leavitt use writing and filmmaking to give a broad picture of Martha Ballard's life, Donovan uses dance to explore what she feels was at the center of it: "Rather than focusing on a long span of time, I decided to keep things simple and focus on what Martha Ballard was most connected to - community."
The dance looks at cooperation in everyday life of that period, portraying women being called out to assist a mother during birth. In producing the dance, Donovan explains that behind the scenes she and her dancers share the same kind of collaborative, cooperative spirit that they are creating for the audience. Together, the dancers helped Donovan develop the movements in the peice to show what would happen during a home birth. Donovan said that when during the course of the rehearsals a dancer discovered she was pregnant, "We teased her, 'That's dedication!' "
Though this weekend's performance of A Midwife's Tale will take place in Cambridge, Donovan would like to perform it in Maine, perhaps at schools. "It is a great combination of arts and history," she said. In the musical score, for example, Nick Humez, recreates on keyboard the musical ambience of late 18th century New England with allusions to Federal-peroid hymnody, Quaker "sing-song," and fragments of the baroque and early classical repertory of Europe known to inhabitants of the American eastern seaboard in Martha Ballard's day.
A Midwife's Tale will be performed at Green Street Studios, Central Square, Cambridge, Mass. Friday, September 25-26 at 8pm and Sept. 27 at 3pm. $15; $10 for students/seniors/artists. For more information, Kelley Donovan can be reached at 617-876-8301.