Debut: following in Mark Morris' footsteps.

Mark Morris' Dido and Aeneas looms as one of his towering works, perhaps the apotheosis of his profound partnering with Baroque vocal music. In his 1989 staging of Henry Purcell's 1689 opera, Morris created not only an enduring masterpiece, but also dual roles that provided a showcase for his own gifts as a dancer.

When the dance was revived in 2000, he still offered his indelible version of those roles--Dido, the tragic queen of Carthage, and the Sorceress who plots her doom. But his decision to include Dido in the repertoire for his company's 25th-anniversary season raised the question of how--perhaps whether--those roles could be handed over to other performers.

When the curtain rose on Dido at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on March 15, the proud, lamenting queen was newly embodied by Amber Darragh, whose lean, angular physique is completely different from Morris' plush, fleshier one. She brought dignity and gravitas to the role, capturing its emotional turmoil rendered through stylized movement that alludes to early modern dance and ancient forms. (The choreographer had split his roles between two dancers; Bradon McDonald performed the Sorceress.)

Having joined the Mark Morris Dance Group in 2001, Darragh had never performed the work. "Everything about it was new to me," she noted in an interview the week after the three performances (see "Reviews," June). An Oregon native and Juilliard graduate, she had performed with the Limon Dance Company for two years.

Within the MMDG, people speculated about how Morris would cast Dido if it did return. "When he cast it this way, it was obviously a new take, splitting up the roles," Darragh says. "I found out last fall that I would be doing Dido. It was pretty overwhelming, but I felt from Mark immediately that he trusted me with it. It was an honor to feel that--and a gift."

For Morris, passing on the role to his dancers was emotional, but not threatening. "I wanted to do the piece again, and it's great to have people who can do those parts so fabulously," he says.

The grand scale, lush physicality, and fierce fervor of Morris' interpretation had created a vivid, iconic impression. But Morris made it clear that he wanted Darragh to find her own way. "I chose to focus entirely on the language of the choreography and the character of Dido herself," says Darragh. "I did a lot of research on her; I read essays and stories. So I approached it from getting to know her, and getting to know the music. Then, instinctually, I just knew who she was."

She learned the basic outline of the choreography from video, but all her coaching was with Morris himself. "He left it very open," she says about the rehearsals with her and McDonald. "And I think that was exciting for him--and for us." The fact that the gender-bending aspect of the role was eliminated was not a topic of discussion. "It's obviously different: I don't have to approach it from wanting people to believe I'm a woman.

"The archaic aspect of the movement was harder than it looks. The challenge was to be very simple, and then convey these very strong emotions," says Darragh. "Every gesture and movement represents words. That's how we're speaking to each other. I remember Mark saying something like, 'This isn't method acting.' It's so powerful and simple. You don't have to put a lot on top of it."

"The first night," Darragh recalls, "everyone's nerves were very high. But the music is unbelievable and as soon as I got onstage it pulled me in."

Morris had Darragh and McDonald learn both of his roles in the work, so at some point either or both might perform the dual characters. "They can both do the whole piece, and that's probably how it will happen when we do it again," says Morris. "For New York I was a little concerned, since it's a big deal--and they did fabulously."