PuPa 2023, Manuela Cardona

PuPa, composed in 2023 for the Boston Conservatory String Orchestra, is a dramatic miniature ballet for strings — a theatrical dance of puppets whose joy and frenzy spiral into collapse. The title derives from the Latin word for “puppet,” and the piece unfolds like a wordless puppet play, scene by scene.

The music begins with the quiet lift of a curtain, revealing a dormant stage. Slowly, motion stirs. Motifs flicker like limbs testing their strings. As the puppets come to life, the piece bursts into dance — spirited, rhythmic, and increasingly unhinged. Phrases layer and evolve with a through-composed structure, each gesture a response to the last, spiraling toward a feverish climax.

At the height of this ecstatic energy, the dance frays. The puppets, having danced themselves to shreds, collapse — their bodies still suspended by strings, but lifeless. The piece ends not with closure, but with suspension — echoing the fragility of animation and the tension between control and surrender.

Although an early work, PuPa offers a glimpse into my ongoing interest in motivic transformation and theatrical storytelling.