Fall in love with Bach. Bringing together the music of the German composer who has attended in 30 years of career on stage. A tribute that comes from the Sicilian choreographer Roberto Zappalà who with his company in Catania has been the owner since 2015 of one of the four National Dance Production Centers recognized by Mibac together with Sieni, Aterballetto, Dancehaus. Also important because it is unique in the south.
Zappalà has always held the bar straight in the sea of contemporary dance and this “Re-making Bach, the natural beauty of creation”, staged in Modena at the Pavarotti-Freni Theater (world and local lories), is a song to nature and crystal clear, mathematical and poetic Bach music. He dressed his ten dancers, Zappalà, in multicolored leotards and moves them according to a design that is only apparently casual. The Parian opens on a scene invaded by a low fog, as in the countryside in the morning before the sun rises. Because we are in the midst of nature as you can guess in the distance from barking, howling, the sound of animal hooves on the ground, the sound of a stream. An enemy nature? Only apparently. Everything is reconciled with that world when the notes of the “Aria on the fourth string” kick off and the ten dancers enter the scene. At first almost frightened, they move with small steps, the torso slightly bent forward, the arms along the body, a position that will be repeated during the evening. But then it is as if the bodies opened up to music, letting themselves be infused by Bach’s poetry. They move according to the assertive, poetic and severe style of Zappalà; they are divided into groups; they give life to walks; they appear lined up parallel to the proscenium and advance in unison. And in that duet that animates an illuminated square on the right, we seem to recognize the two migrants at the bottom of the sea from “Shipwreck with spectator” of 2010.
And this hint brings us to the great theme of Zappalà’s dance. Which is not only excellent choreography, but often commitment, denunciation, literature. As when in a memorable “A. Semu all devotees, all? ” it indicated the mafia infiltrations, the religious prejudices of the procession of Sant’Agata in Catania. Or when back in 1994 in the “Berretto a rattle” he put Pirandello back into dance.
Final with dancers lined up wearing t-shirts that read “One life, one planet”.
After a tour that began in early October in Milan, the reruns continue in the pre-Christmas days at the Bellini Theater in Catania