Our Performance Proposals 2022-23
INTERDISCIPLINARY
HISTORICAL
IMPROVISATION
..a style of performing!
"I loved every minute! It stretched me but in such a supportive way I felt that I was exploring all the time."
1. CORTEGIANO
THE LEGACY OF IL CORTEGIANO
The concept
Baldassarre Castiglioni’s book Il Cortegiano depicts a society full of creativity and curiosity. This programme is a journey in early 17th-century Italy, encountering some of the most extravagant people of the time, and their workshops, their students and their published works. The masters and revolutionaries include Biagio Marini, Cesare Negri, Caravaggio and Ridolfo Capoferro. The disciplines of Dance, Fencing, and Music come together in a delightful inter-disciplinary performance.
What we do
Gestures, rhythm and affects weave a fil rouge between three artistic disciplines where
- Three disciplines collaborate together
- Fencing, dancing and music are contextualised in an inter-disciplinary environment
- Spoken texts regarding the fascinating figures of the time are interspersed throughout
All these elements are performed to specific music and specific actions of dancing and fencing.
The music
Includes improvisation, arrangements and pieces from:
Marini, Zanetti, Negri, Falconieri, Uccellini
2. CHIRONE
FAIRE LA FOULE
RIDING WITH LA GUÉRINIÈRE
THE CONCEPT
The important treatise Ecole de Cavalerie by M.er de la Guérinère guides and inspires us towards an innovative connection between music and equitation. This performance comprises of different scenes, sometimes where music directs the movements of the horses, and sometimes the opposite.
WHAT WE DO
Guérinière reflects on:
- How to connect to horses and how to relate to them
- The function of horses in the 18th-century society, like, for hunting and for war
- What is a refined equitation and the ways how to achieve it
- What are balletti a cavallo
The performance portrays these aspects through specific music and a specific actions of horses and riders
THE MUSIC
The music of this show includes improvisation, arrangements and original pieces from:
Biber, Schmelzer, Lully
3. APOLLO
INFANTA MARGARITA,
BETWEEN LOVE AND DESTINY
THE CONCEPT
Her destiny was planned from her birth and cultivated for 15 years, until Margarita of Spain (1551-73) finally meets her love, her uncle/cousin Leopold I of Habsburg.
The festivities surrounding their wedding were extravagantly lavish, consisting of a balletto a cavallo directed by Francesco Sbarra and composed by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. The entire celebration was documented in contemporary chronicles with detailed drawings of the floats, carousels and horse choreographies.
In the desperate search to produce a male heir, the poor health of the Emperor's wife led to Margarita’s death after only six years of marriage and seven pregnancies. The consanguinity of the couple limited the offspring to one daughter and forced Leopold, after the death of the Margarita, to a further two marriages.
WHAT WE DO
1st option:
Music and Horse ballet representing the two poles of the story: Spain and Austria.
The performance is shaped by a series of tableau where music and horses will react and interact, including a contemporary choreography on Schmelzer’s balletto a cavallo, and concludes with the tragic passing of Margarita.
2nd option:
Live Music interacts with a Visual Media Project of Margarita and Leopold's complex story. The video, produced specifically for this performance, includes the series of paintings of Margarita's during her childhood and the drawings from the contemporary chronicle of their wedding feast.
THE MUSIC
The music of this show will include improvisation, arrangements and original pieces taken from:
Music of the Spanish court of Philip IV, Muffat and Balletto a Cavallo by Schmelzer,
