Beijing's theater-goers with a passion for ballet have been
somewhat downcast over the lack of dance shows in the past
month.
But their winter blues will soon be over.
Aterballetto, Italy's leading contemporary ballet company, will
bring its sharp, fast and versatile shows to fire up the audience
with the unique Italian zest for life at Poly Theatre on March 3
and 4.
The company will then tour Shanghai for two nights at the
Shanghai Grand Theatre on March 8 and 9.
Aterballetto's China debut will present a triple bill of its
Artistic Director Mauro Bigonzetti's signature works, highlighting
his musicality, sensuality and mastery of different choreographic
styles.
The first piece "Omaggio a Bach (Homage to Bach)" is a half-hour
dance featuring 19 dancers created to commemorate the 250th
anniversary of the great German composer's death.
It is Bigonzetti's moving personal tribute to Bach. Through
dance, in a pure, essential and unadorned form, the choreographer
interprets Bach's musical universe.
Bigonzetti extrapolates from his "Comoedia canto terzo,"
inspired by Dante's "Paradise" and set to such Bach music as
"Goldberg Variations," "Johannes Passion," "Suite for Orchestra No
1" and "Suite for Orchestra No 3."
The second work "Songs" is a 15-minute sensual and refined
pas-de-trois that delves into the deeper aspects of psychological
conditions.
The instinctive and extremely vital dance portrays the
relationship between man and woman in its various stages:
seduction, passion, skirmish and jealousy.
The choreographer quotes from the contemporary Italian composer
Roberto De Simone to explain his inspiration for the work: "I think
that to live well in this world, all men should be women or all
women should be men, or there should not be neither men nor women,
in order to have a quieter life. And I know I'm right in what I
said."
After the intermission, the audience will see the 40-minute
"Cantata" with the Southern Italian female quartet, Gruppo Musicale
Assurd, singing and playing traditional songs with a tambourine and
concertina on stage.
Bigonzetti's "Cantata" bursts with the passion, colour and wild
beauty of Southern Italy's street life. Mediterranean culture is
captured in the notes and lyrics of traditional songs performed
live by the marvellous quartet Gruppo Musicale Assurd.
With their hair flying and clothes bunched and scruffy, they are
set loose on a string of larky, gesticulating combative numbers,
all nuanced with a very Latin energy.
Founded in 1979 in the small Northern town Reggio Emilia by
Amedeo Amodio, Aterballetto, the first ballet company in Italy not
to be under an Opera House, is one of the best dance companies in
Italy.
Since March 1997, when 38-year-old Bigonzetti was appointed its
artistic director, he has gradually transformed Amodio's
neoclassical style into a unique Italian style the ability to move
fluidly from classical music to pop, from Balanchine to modern
ballet.
Trained at the Rome Opera Ballet School, Bigonzetti started and
developed his career as performer and choreographer with
Aterballetto under Amodio from 1982 to 1993, standing out as one of
the main soloists and accomplishing his early choreographic
experiences that have led him to develop collaborations with the
most prestigious international companies including Kirov Ballet,
English National Ballet and New York City Ballet.
After he became the artistic director of Aterballetto,
Bigonzetti decided to give the troupe a strong identity of its own,
and to do that, certain changes were necessary not only in
repertoire, but in the quality of the dancers.
"Before, Aterballetto used to dance the classical repertoire,
and guest stars like Alessandra Ferri and Vladimir Derevianko were
invited to dance the main roles, while the rest of the troupe made
little progress in the corps de ballet," recalled the director.
The first thing to do was to raise the technical and artistic
level of the company as it was more interesting to work with his
own dancers than to import guests. Now, all the 19 dancers in the
company are classically trained and all are soloists in their own
rights.
The troupe is predominantly Latin, with dancers from Italy,
France, Spain, Venezuela, Syria and Canada.
"I'm creating works for certain dancers, using their specific
personality, and it's very stimulating that they come from
different cultural backgrounds. It makes for a real exchange. It's
not easy, but it's fascinating," he said.
His inventive choreography makes eloquent use of the company
members. He is creating new steps, and original, dynamic ways of
moving. At each turn, there is the unexpected, a gentle touch of
irony: something to surprise.
After studying at the school of Art and Architecture in Rome and
spending any spare time meandering around museums and palaces
absorbing everything around him, the Rome-born Bigonzetti said he
is deeply influenced by the Italian culture.
"I've inevitably been inspired by the works of art around me,"
he said. "Michelangelo, for instance, and all the cultural
references I grew up with, and these very Italian influences are
obviously present in my work. After all, dance is a form of
sculpture," he said.
As one of the should-not-miss events in the Year of Italy in
China 2006, Aterballetto's triple bill courtesy of the artistic
Roman choreographer Bigonzetti will definitely bring the viewers
the true taste of Italy.
(China Daily February 27, 2006)
