“Love me still”. The opening of Gianna Nannini’s song is sung by a solo dancer on stage and then taken up by the others who enter little by little. And immediately we are traveling towards the 80s. This is the theme that Mauro Bigonzetti wanted to explore, with delicacy, elegance, even nostalgia, in the piece “Ballade” which closed (with a triumph not only among the “nostalgics”) the new show by the Michele Merola Contemporary Dance Company, opened instead by “Elegia” by Enrico Morelli. Seen at the Teatro Comunale in Modena and then leaving for a beautiful tour.
There are only a handful of quality contemporary dance companies in Italy. And Merola’s group is rightfully in it. Thanks also to the Agora Coaching Project, a dance improvement project that Merola directs together with Enrico Morelli. Cohesive and collaborative group therefore and the result can be seen on stage with ten technically prepared dancers, interpreters and precise personalities. All based in Reggio Emilia, where the Aterballetto is also located. a true citadel of dance
So “Ballade”, years of toxic love, narrated by Pier Vittorio Tondelli (who died in 1991 at the age of 36) in “Altri libertini” and in the 1983 film (“Toxic Love”) by Claudio Caligari. Years of highs and heroin that Bigonzetti probably witnessed when he was a dancer at the Aterballetto. And this is therefore the most precise inspiration of the piece: with symbols that refer to Tondelli’s novel and the constant presence on stage of a rope that wraps, witches, envelops different performers like a single tourniquet. Transgressive experiences, the discovery of sexuality with the male and female duet, or the desire to amaze with the boy in hot pants and stiletto heels. The journey into that convincing past is also marked by Silvia Califano’s costumes which, however, here too, do not end up in parody. Period music, an anthology ranging from Nick Cave to CCCP- Faithful to the line, and ringing Prince, Leonard Cohen and Frank Zappa.
Morelli’s ′′ Elegy ′′ tells us about the difficulty of living today instead, in the years marred by Covid on music that combines Chopin with a composition by Giuseppe Villarosa. Four couples break up and look for each other, they embrace. They are leaps and bounds. A movement that is colored with romanticism towards the finale with Chopin’s piano and the black backdrop that becomes a starry sky.
A demanding evening, therefore, which testifies to the maturity of the company and the generosity of Michele Merola, director and choreographer, who for this annual production leaves the scene to two other artists.