IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA_BALLETTO D’AZIONE
Uno, dieci, cento Figaro in azione. Determinati, potenti, coraggiosi, in un gioco camaleontico ricco di imprevisti e repentini mutamenti. Un balletto d’azione in chiave post moderna con l’ironia dissacrante e l’energia instancabile di una squadra speciale disposta a tutto, o quasi.
Choreography, set and lighting design Monica Casadei
Music Gioachino Rossini
Sound design and original songs Luca Vianini
Costume design Daniela Usai
Assistant to musical dramaturgy and costumes Davide Tagliavini
Assistants to the choreographer Antonio Bissiri, Vittorio Colella, Teresa Morisano
Production Compagnia Artemis Danza in collaboration with AMAT and Municipality of Pesaro
Co-production Italian Festival in Bangkok, Festival Orizzonti, Armonie d’Arte Festival
in collaboration with Rossini Opera Festival and Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Thanks to A.N.G.E.L.O. Vintage Palace
With the contribution of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Emilia-Romagna Region Department of Culture
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of Gioachino Rossini, Monica Casadei, with the Compagnia Artemis Danza, faces one of the most famous titles of the maestro from Pesaro, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, with a choreographic interpretation that debuted in Pesaro, in the historic Teatro Rossini, in collaboration with AMAT – Associazione Marchigiana Attività Teatrali and Comune di Pesaro.
A show that Monica Casadei imagined as a futuristic “action ballet” and that, as usual, involves in a contamination of languages all the creative body of Artemis, which is enriched by the costumes made by visual artist Daniela Usai and the musical elaborations of the composer Luca Vianini, who compares with Rossini.
But who is really Figaro? In Monica Casadei’s reading Figaro is the prototype of the successful man in today’s world. The Rossini hero becomes the emblem of those who succeed in satisfying with effectiveness, vivacity and savoir faire the expectations of a society that imposes every day to reach its goals optimizing time and energy.
On the choreographic level, Figaro’s character multiplies in the bodies of the entire company, where, without gender distinctions, the performers act with the determination, energy and rigour of a special team: toned, gritty and hyper-concentrated, their dance manipulates time and space without respite, continuously weaves and loosens an infinite network of changes of direction, intersections of trajectories and inlays of movements. As if they were following the routes of crowded and noisy highways, the dancers unravel with lucidity and martial energy, wise gears of the crazy mechanism of social living.
The result is an action performance, characterized by an atmosphere suspended between a past shadow and a flashing and frenetic present: the unreachable image of a perfect man appears and disappears under the eyes of the public to multiply in the dancers and their technical virtuosities.
The historical costumes are the result of a collaboration with the Rossini Opera Festival and the Teatro Comunale of Bologna, while the tailored dresses were made in collaboration with A.N.G.E.L.O Vintage Palace (Lugo di Romagna), reference pole of vintage in Italy.
The show was co-produced by the Italian Festival in Thailand in Bangkok, the Orizzonti Festival in Chiusi and the Armonie d’Arte Festival in Borgia.
Originally from Ferrara, Monica Casadei graduates in philosophy cum laude writing a dissertation on dance in Plato’s system. After a career as a professional acrobatic gymnast, she takes to studying classic and modern dance, at first in Italy, then in London, and eventually in Paris where she gets to meet choreographers Pierre Doussaint and Isabelle Doubouloz and the Master André Cognard Hanshi So shihan, with whom she still practices the martial art of Aikido.
In France, she founds the company Artemis Danza, with which she later moves to Italy, in 1997, giving birth to a fervent production activity that amounts, nowadays, to over 40 original creations.
From 1998 to 2007, the Company is part of an artist residency at Fondazione Teatro Due in Parma whereas, from 2014 up to this day, it partakes in an artist residency at Teatro Comunale in Bologna. Artemis Danza has been invited to the most important Italian theatres and festivals and to several international tours and festivals.
Pivotal elements in Monica Casadei’ s artistic research are the influences from different artistic, cultural and geographic fields and the exploration of urban spaces and places that turn into stages for performances.
Alongside the production activity, Artemis funds, produces and promotes young choreographers and organizes several activities meant to artistically educate the audience.
