Death and the maiden

In Europe in the Middle Ages, Death was all around. Life expectancy was half of what it is today.  Wars, diseases, plagues, poverty, infant mortality,  were constantly part of the environment.  Religion was concerned with the afterlife.   Many people died at an early age .And the life after life was in the minds of all. The theme of  the young dying early in art, showed up in prints, sculptures. One of them showed Death taking the young girl, {Death and the Maiden}.  This subject persisted in art , on and off climaxing in music in  Schuberts famous quartet {"Death and the Maiden"}.  Schubert realized that he was dying and influenced by a famous poem by Matthias Claudius composed this work.  In our times, this has been a subject for ballet companies,  especially, including Bach’s' Passacaglia  as a powerful accompaniment .

but the subject was changed to "Death and the Young Man",where a Ballerina plays Deaths part and entices the young man reversing the tradition.  
My handling is different in as much I returned to the original idea, The young girl once more in her original role,  but now as a ballerina, Using ballet settings dancing a pas de deux in many different movements with Death as her partner, with black backgrounds setting them off as in a stage performance.  These are large black and white works in which I maintained an expressive coherence.  The significance of the emotional relationships between the two dancers was uppermost in my mind.as also the close-up design that gives more intimacy. and also a lack of fear in the ballerina.