COMPAGNIA DANZA ZAPPALÀ
Performative speech: Study on the Faun
Idea and Choreography by Roberto Zappalà
Music by Claude Debussy ‘Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune’ (for solo piano)
Dance and Collaboration by Filippo Domini
Speech by Roberto Zappalà
Texts curated by Nello Calabrò
A production of Scenario Pubblico / Zappalà Dance Company – National Relevant Interest Center in co-production with MILANoLTRE Festival
In collaboration with FU ME Festival Cesena and Cilentart Fest
With the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Sicily Region Department of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment.
This research moment is designed for alternative spaces and anticipates a broader project that will culminate in 2024 with the staging of a unique creative design that will juxtapose ‘Après-midi d’un faune’ with Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and Stravinsky ‘s ‘Le Sacre du Printemps’.
Just as the narrative of Mallarmé ‘s poem transitions from sleep to memory in a “mental space” where reality, dream, and desire intertwine, similarly, the space where the dance occurs – the inner world of the faun – is another world where exclusion, courtship, and eroticism find their expressive space.
It is a carpet.
Spreading a carpet continues to be a gesture of significant symbolic and practical importance for many populations.
It’s like bringing paradise into a place that feels like hell.
The carpet separates two worlds, one real and another made of dreams and desires.
The carpet simultaneously separates and unites the dance from what is not dance.
Just as Debussy’s musical structure, described by the composer himself as “undulating, rocking, rich in curved lines,” is like a carpet, with a sinuous line reminiscent of floral decorations.
Roberto Zappalà
NEW DANCE DRAMA
UNE DANSE INSPIRÉE PAR L’EXPOSITION DE PARK EUN SUN
L’Ame illuminée
Choreography and concept: Tamara Fragale
Artist: Franca Pisani
Pianist: Riccardo Sandiford
Music: Erik Satie Gnossienne, Claude Debussy Cathédrale engloutie, Maurice Ravel Alborada del gracioso
Costumes: Gioia Nari Atelier
Tamara aims to narrate the captivating woman of today, exploring the boundaries of the human soul and celebrating its strength and resilience in a world that continues to silence its true voice and heart.
Our main character, Ariadne, in contrast to the story of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, is not a guide for someone else but her genuine savior. Ariadne realizes that her heart is a shining light directing her journey, yet it is also a shadowy labyrinth filled with death and pain. She understands the necessity of persisting in the journey because everything is interconnected — a cycle of beginnings and ends, and beginnings anew. One must undergo a symbolic death to experience rebirth. It’s an eternal cycle.
The enlightened soul is not perfect; it is the soul that views itself without fear, acknowledges itself, and embraces itself despite every reality. The labyrinth within her spirit is vibrant and evolves alongside her, allowing only her to discover the exit/entrance.
Through “L’ame illuminée,” the dancer aims to represent, the journey that inspires us all at some point: the human and artistic acceptance of oneself and one’s true voice, not the one imposed by today’s society, prejudices, or others. It is a journey that may never have an end.
The enlightened soul is liberated, untamed, distinct, and imperfect, yet it is a soul that aligns itself with the world and listens to the whispers of its own heart.
Once acknowledged, the sharing of freedom becomes imperative, and what more fitting means than through the expressive arts of dance and music? In “L’Ame illuminée,” dancer Tamara Fragale will be joined on the piano by Tuscan musician Riccardo Sandiford.
