Aterballetto: Pite / Preljocaj / Tortelli
FND Aterballetto – rehearsals – ph. Christophe Bernard (18)
SOLO ECHO by CRYSTAL PITE | RECONCILIATIO by ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ | GLORY HALL by DIEGO TORTELLI
The National Choreographic Center / Aterballetto presents a brand-new triptych, set to add fresh and unexpected nuances to the company’s already eclectic repertoire. Solo Echo, created by the award-winning Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, invokes winter, music, and movement to express something profound about acceptance and loss.
Reconciliatio is a delicate female duet inspired by the Book of Revelation, crafted by one of the world’s most acclaimed choreographers, Angelin Preljocaj.
A vibrant fresco of sensuality and overwhelming vitality, Glory Hall by Diego Tortelli, showcases one of Italy’s most innovative choreographers.
The triptych is a true dance concert, beginning with Brahms’ sonatas and concluding with the post-rock of the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, interspersed with the famous notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.
Choreography CRYSTAL PITE
Music Johannes Brahms
Sonata for Cello and Piano in E Minor, Op. 38: I. Allegro non troppo
Sonata for Cello and Piano in F Major, Op. 99: II. Adagio Affettuoso
Choreographer’s Assistant Eric Beauchesne
Restaging for CCN/Aterballetto
Production Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto
Co-production Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Premiere performances: 6-7/02/2025, Teatro Comunale di Bologna
7 dancers – 20’
Love, loss, and acceptance lie at the heart of the stunning dance work Solo Echo by Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite.
Solo Echo is inspired by two sonatas for cello and piano by Johannes Brahms and the poem “Lines for Winter” by Mark Strand. As in Strand’s poem, Solo Echo evokes winter, music, and the moving body to express something essential about acceptance and loss.
Choreography ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ
Music Ludwig van Beethoven, Moonlight Sonata
Choreographer’s Assistant Claudia De Smet
Restaging from the 2010 creation Suivront mille ans de calme
Production Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto
First performance 16/09/2024, Memorare 2024, Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna
2 dancers – 10’
Dance, the quintessential art of the unspeakable, has the delicate role of unveiling our fears, anxieties, and hopes by evoking them. The duet chosen to convey the theme of reconciliation is from Suivront mille ans de calme (A Thousand Years of Calm Will Follow), a work marked by a poetic and impressionistic vein, inspired by a careful but not literal reading of the Apocalypse. For the choreographer, neither in the original performance nor in the female duet adapted for “Memorare 2024” should there be an attempt to seek precise references to the text of St. John. Rather, the goal is to reveal, uncover, and highlight (as the etymology of the word apocalypse suggests: to lift the veil) elements present in our world but hidden from our eyes. And in the delicate relationship between the two protagonists of the duet, both visible and invisible, emerge the themes to which we refer.
Choreography DIEGO TORTELLI
Music Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Choreographer’s assistant Hélias Tur-Dorvault
Production Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto
Co-production Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Premiere performances: 6-7/02/2025, Teatro Comunale di Bologna
16 dancers – 30’
Glory Hall is the new creation by Diego Tortelli for the 16 dancers of Aterballetto, a sensory and rebellious journey into a liminal space suspended between light and darkness. In a black space but never truly dark, the choreography unfolds as an ecstatic ritual where sensuality and profane spirituality intertwine, creating an ongoing play between pleasure, virtuosity, and the search for a personal version of glory. The dance, rebellious against narrative, constantly regenerates itself, allowing ephemeral emotions to explode, destined to vanish and be reborn. In Glory Hall, anything is possible: the music guides in a crescendo of harmony and transgression, for an ecstasy that knows no boundaries, blending rock sounds with symphonic melodies.
