The programme of the 86th Maggio Musicale Festival is enriched with the proposal of a dance performance staged in the Mehta Hall on 30 and 31 May at 8 p.m. – The Trilogy of Ecstasy.

The project, devised by Roberto Zappalà with the collaboration of Nello Calabrò, is a major co-production between the Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Compagnia Zappalà Danza, Scenario Pubblico, the Centre Chorégraphique National de Rillieux-la-Pape of Lyon, the Theatres of Reggio Emilia, MilanOltre Festival of Milan, the Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania and in collaboration with the Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza, the Fondazione Ravenna Manifestazioni and the Teatro del Giglio of Lucca.

The protagonist of the two evenings – for which Roberto Zappalà was in charge of direction, choreography, sets, costumes (in collaboration with Veronica Cornacchini) and lights – is the Compagnia Zappalà Danza, making its debut at the Maggio. The dramaturgy is by Nello Calabrò.

The dancers on stage are Samuele Arisci, Faile Sol Bakker, Giulia Berretta, Andrea Rachele Bruno,Corinne Cilia, Filippo Domini, Laura Finocchiaro, Anna Forzutti, William Mazzei, Silvia Rossi, Damiano Scavo, Thomas Sutton, Alessandra Verona and Erik Zarcone.

The performance – which starting from the Teatro del Maggio will in the coming months also touch Milan, Catania, Bolzano, Pesaro, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Ravenna and Lucca – is based on three of the most famous compositions of the last century and a half: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune by Claude Debussy, the Boléro by Maurice Ravel and Le Sacre du printemps by Igor’ Stravinsky. The key to the trilogy is the work on the space, in which a “scenic device” is created that, from time to time, limits, amplifies, and modifies the choreography, curated by Roberto Zappalà and conceived for a single stage set. The three creations, whose common denominator is Zappalà’s clear and ‘wild’ language, are all presented on the same evening. The challenge and the wager of this trilogy is to find a new imagery that without denying the past does not want to modernise but, on the strength of the maturity it has acquired, personalise a world that already has immense evocative power. For Zappalà, the accent in his creations is on human relations, on the relationships between men and women: denied, exalted, violated in a choreographic ‘reflection’ on the drifts of contemporary society.

The project
The project sees Roberto Zappalà tackle three great classical and for him also ‘sacred’ compositions that have marked the choreographic (and also musical) path of the last century. His respect for these works has made him reflect for more than 10 years. Today the time is ripe to stage them. The three creations that have Zappalà’s clear and wild language as their common denominator are Il pomeriggio di un fauno, Boléro and La sagra della primavera. The challenge and the wager of this trilogy in retrospect is to find a new imagery that without denying the past for its own sake does not want to modernise but, on the strength of the maturity it has acquired, personalise a world that already has immense evocative power. In addition to the specific language of the choreographer, the work on space thus becomes important if not fundamental, creating a “scenic device” that, time after time, performance after performance limits, amplifies, modifies, the dance created by the choreographer.

To give an example, the first piece of the trilogy, already performed in study form, in the piano version played by Leonardo Zunica, Debussy’s L’après midi d’un faune, is danced in a confined space, with what this entails in terms of limiting stage and choreographic space. As always for Zappalà, the accent is on human relations, on the relationships between men and women: denied, exalted, violated in a choreographic “reflection” on the drifts of contemporary society.
The first conceptual mobile of the creation, takes its inspiration from a tragic news story that happened during a party in a villa in the Roman countryside at the beginning of 2021 on which is grafted an evocation of the iconic party/ritual sequence in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. The reference/homage to Kubrick explicit in the visual layout of Boléro, combines the obsessiveness of Ravel’s melody with a dance where the ritual aspect present in the film is transfigured and enhanced by Zappalà’s visual and choreographic imagery.
A single stage set hosts the creation, a creation that simultaneously encompasses exclusion, courtship and eroticism in L’après midi d’un faune; inclusion, vice, lust in Boléro and finally persecution and sacrifice in Le Sacre du Printemps. To quote the title of one of Lelouch’s films that ends with Ravel/Béjart’s Boléro, it is always a question of dancing with and for ‘the one and the other’.

Zappalà Danza Company
An important company on the Italian scene, for more than 30 years the bearer of Roberto Zappalà’s artistic thought, it is distinguished by the availability of a wide and articulated repertoire, the result of the synergic work of the choreographer, his reference dramaturge Nello Calabrò and the dancers that over the years have allowed the realisation of more than 80 productions, hosted all over the world by theatres and festivals of international importance. Characteristic of the creations is also a rigorous work on the language that has been built up over time, called MoDem.
Among the awards received, the Danza&Danza Prize for “A.semu tutti devoti tutti?” and “LA NONA”.
Since 2002, Compagnia Zappalà Danza has been resident in Catania at Scenario Pubblico, a structure that has allowed the company and the choreographer to broaden and deepen their choreographic research work and to take root in the territory with production, promotion, hospitality, residencies, training and a rich and articulated programme. In 2015 Scenario Pubblico/Compagnia Zappalà Danza was recognised by the MIC as a National Centre of Dance Production, and in 2022 obtained further recognition as a Centre of Relevant National Interest.

Playbill

Zappalà Danza Company

Trilogy of Ecstasy
Après-midi d’un faune | Boléro | Le Sacre du Printemps

Direction, choreography, sets costumes and lights Roberto Zappalà

Claude Debussy, L’après-midi d’un faune
Maurice Ravel, Boléro
Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps
other music AA.VV

Dance and collaboration: Samuele Arisci, Faile Sol Bakker, Giulia Berretta, Andrea Rachele Bruno, Corinne Cilia, Filippo Domini, Laura Finocchiaro, Anna Forzutti, William Mazzei, Silvia Rossi, Damiano Scavo, Thomas Sutton, Alessandra Verona, Erik Zarcone
Dramaturgy: Nello Calabrò
Costumes: Roberto Zappalà in collaboration with Veronica Cornacchini
Costume design: Majoca | Set design Peroni S.p.a.
Goatmask: Giada Russo Art Atelier | Technical direction: Sammy Torrisi | Lighting technician: David Garaffo
Technical assistance: Maka Dansoko, Muthoor Oma

A co-production Scenario Pubblico/CZD Centro di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale per la Danza; Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Centre Choréographique National de Rillieux-la-Pape (Lyon); Fondazione I Teatri (Reggio Emilia);
MILANoLTRE Festival (Milan); Teatro Massimo Bellini (Catania)
In collaboration with
Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza; Ravenna Manifestazioni Foundation; Teatro del Giglio (Lucca)

With the support of MiC Ministero della Cultura; Regione Siciliana Assessorato del Turismo, dello Sport e dello Spettacolo

Prices

Sector D 15€; Sector C 20€; Sector B 25€; Sector A 30€