World premiere of Mark Morris' Petrichor

Choreographer Mark Morris

It's always fun to anticipate a Mark Morris work you've never seen before. "What does he have up his sleeve this time? Will I have to stop myself from laughing out loud? Will his nack for filling his work with bona fide communitas make me all teary (again)?"

This time around it's your friendly neighborhood Celebrity Series that has arranged for this delicious sense of anticpation. Mark Morris’ newest work, Petrichor, is a work for 8 female dancers and is commissioned by the Celebrity Series of Boston (ahem) in honor of President and Executive Director Martha H. Jones’ 25th anniversary with the Celebrity Series.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines petrichor as "A pleasant, distinctive smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions." As a gardener, the title intrigues me. As a Mark Morris fan, this is like waiting for the first day of summer while sitting in math class. It just can't come soon enough.

Petrichor gets its world premiere on October 14 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre when the Mark Morris Dance Group returns to Boston. We couldn't have done it without the generous funding of The Little Family Foundation.