Bayadere. The Kingdom of the Shades
music: Ludwig Minkus
choreography: Michele Di Stefano
original music: Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch
costume design: Santi Rinciari
lights: Giulia Broggi
duration: 60’
premiere: Teatro Sociale di Trento, 2021.
performed by: Cristina Acri, Matteo Capetola, Francesca Capurso, Carmine Catalano, Alice Catapano, Beatrice Ciattini, Matilde Di Ciolo, Veronica Galdo, Mattia Luparelli, Aldo Nolli, Niccolò Poggini, Paolo Rizzo
A famous performance of classical ballet repertory “Bayadère” is steeped in idealized exoticism, both in its melodramatic plot and the aesthetic of the whole. Historically, the performance’s most famous scene, The Kingdom of Shades, presents itself on the borderline between this and the other world. The entire act expresses a vision that goes beyond its context and opens onto a passage of pure movement, abstract and lucid in its formal simplicity… Designed for a group of young dancers, this new Kingdom of Darkness - so mysterious and evocative - belongs to the exceptional times in which we live. It refers to something lost yet feasible, something about the presence of bodies and the intertwining of their trajectories.
Michele di Stefano is choreographer and founder of the contemporary dance group MK. Since 2000, the group operates through different formats and collaborations and is considered one of the most lively research ensemble of the Italian scene, with performances and constant presence in many countries. Di Stefano is consultant for the dance program of the National Theater in Rome. He is also curating a new program for performing arts at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, since 2019. He was also creating for other dance companies, such as Aterballetto, Balletto di Toscana, Korean National Dance Company, as well as for the Dance and Theatre Biennale in Venice. During 2023, he will create a piece for the Ballet de Lorraine. In 2000 and 2018 he has received the Danza&Danza Award for contemporary dance and the UBU Prize for the performance “Bermudas” in 2019. He has been awarded the Silver Lion for innovation in dance at the Venice Dance Biennale in 2014.
The Ballet of Toscana represents a constant significant presence in the history of Italian dance since 1970. It is a rigorously professional production sustained by MIBACT, Tuscany Region and from the district of Florence, with a staff of 12-14 dancers. The current artistic program, thanks to a team of famous collaborators and authors, alongside Cristina Bozzolini, recalls a constant and coherent cultural line with the affirmation of the primacy of contemporary choreography and a plurality of expressive languages. In the past years the Company had the pleasure of working with many renowed choreographers, like Fabrizio Monteverde, Mauro Bigonzetti, Virgilio Sieni, Cristina Rizzo, Arianna Benedetti, Davide Bombana, Diego Tortelli, Jiri Bubenicek and Michele Di Stefano. From 2017, the partnership with Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has been established, while company also collaborates with other prestigious Italian theaters including La Fenice in Venice and Teatro Regio in Parma. The performance “Bayadère” was awarded by Danza & Danza as the best Italian production of 2021.
Involving them in the creation, Di Stefano has activated in the young and talented dancers of the Ballet of Toscana their technical and expressive that emerge here, between individuals and ensemble.
© Danza & Danza
