My interest is aimed precisely at the compositional potential that this scene contains, not to replicate it but to unleash all its dynamic strength and also to restore its true psychedelic nature to Solor's hallucination. Designed for an ensemble of very young talents, this new Kingdom of Shadows, so mysteriously full of suggestions, belongs to the exceptional times we are living in, because it refers to something lost and something possible at the same time, something that concerns the presence of bodies and the intertwining of their trajectories in a space that is no longer just an afterlife but a present that wishes to be reinvented with delicacy and passion. Bayadère is a show steeped in idealized exoticism, both in its melodramatic plot and the aesthetic of the whole.
Historically, La Bayadère's most famous scene The Kingdom of Shades presents itself on the borderline between this world and the other world. Here, the shades appear as if frozen in their tragic
condition and perform ritual movements.This act expresses a vision that goes beyond its context and opens onto a passage of pure movement, abstract and lucid in its formal simplicity.
I focused on the compositional potential that this scene holds; not with the intention of duplicating it,but to unleash all its dynamic force and to restore to Solor’s hallucinations their true psychedelic nature.
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. All within a space which is no longer just an afterlife, but it's also a present which wishes to be reinvented, with delicacy and passion.
Choreography by Michele Di Stefano
Music by Ludwig Minkus
Original music by Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch
Costume Design: Santi Rinciari
Lighting Design: Giulia Broggi
Dancers: Sofia Bonetti, Matteo Capetola, Carmine Catalano, Alice Catapano, Beatrice Ciattini, Matilde Di Ciolo, Veronica Galdo, Aldo Nolli, Niccolò Poggini, Paolo Rizzo
Artistic Director: Cristina Bozzolini Maître de ballet Sabrina Vitangeli
Maître de ballet: Sabrina Vitangeli
Production manager: Alessia Lazzaro
Stage manager: Saverio Cona
Dressmaker: Chiara Fontanella
Lighting: Luca Cittadoni
with the support of Centro Nazionale di Produzione della Danza Virgilio Sieni, Fondazione Cr Firenze, Ministero della cultura Italiana, Regione Toscana
Cooperating partner: Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Budapest
