Florence Dance Festival Week 3: Contemporary Companies & Orchestral Evenings

At the halfway point of Florence Dance Performing Arts festival, Santa Maria Novella welcomes back the Florence Chamber Orchestra in addition to the FloDance 2.0, The Milan Ballet, Spellbound Contemporary Ballet, and a special evening, New Generation, including works from the Toscana Dance Hub, Compagnia DNA, and Antitesi.

On both Monday, July 16 and Tuesday, July 17 at 9 pm., the Florence Chamber Orchestra will present Musica Dal Grande Schermo (Music from the Big Screen).  The performance will feature Eugenio Milazzo, trumpet soloist Raffaele Chieli, and oboe soloist Davide Guerrieri, conducted by Giuseppe Lanzetta. The program will include nine pieces, including Morricone’s “C’era una volta in America”, Piovani’s Suite from “Life is Beautiful,” and Rota’s score from “Il Gattopardo” (The Leopard).

The following evening, Wednesday, July 18 at 9:30 pm is the presentation of Bolero, a piece choreographed by Marga Nativo that premiered in 2017 edition of the Florence Dance Festival, by the school’s company FloDance 2.0. The work is inspired by the correlation of music and movement, with an emphasis on repetition. Slow Fade to Black, choreographed by Benedetta Ghiglia, showing the varying impact of emotions, how it overpowers us, and how we cope and release these tensions from our bodies.

Thursday, July 19 at 9:30 pm  the prestigious Milan Ballet will present their 2018 production “The Thousand and One Nights of Schéhérazade.” The performance embodies the essence of sultry Arabian nights, choreographed by Federico Mella and Alessandro Torrielli, The ambience of the performance is in the streets and markets of the Medina, filled with its inhabitants, including the enchanting woman, Schéhérazade. The ballet, adopted from the Middle Eastern folktale, where a king, hurt from the infidelities of his own wife, has a succession of marrying virgins and then immediately executing them the next morning. The king, no longer able to find any virgins, Schéhérazade offers herself, but to ensure her life, she tells a series of folktales to the king for 1001 nights. He then fell in love with her, and made her his queen.

Saturday, July 21 is a special evening, with three different companies embracing the stage.  New Generation, beginning at 9:30 pm will present choreographies by the Toscana Dance Hub, Compagnia DNA, and Antitesi. Toscana Dance Hub will present a performance from their summer intensive students, choreographed by Emilie Camacho and Ryan Manson. Titled Dancers, it will show the even in youth, the power of and determination of young dancers as professionals.

Compagnia DNA’s Guida Per Risolvere Il Cubo Di Rubik, choreographed by Elisa Pagani, is “What If” love story. It follows the lives of what would of become Mr. and Mrs. Montecchi; children, aging together, highs, lows, and all the bits that fall in between. This warming piece investigates how to be transparent with love, without fear of it. It is a concept to give this feeling an opportunity to grow with others. Love is not mutually exclusive with reality. The stage will have dancers ranging from the ages of 14-70, to demonstrate time and maturity interplays with love’s complexities. Antitesi will conclude the evening with Franto choreographed by Arianna Benedetti. The new work will certainly reflect her high intensity staccato style that has made her an acclaimed and demanded artist across Florence, including teaching and choreographing at Balletto di Toscana, Florence Dance Center, and Opus Ballet.

The Spellbound Contemporary Ballet with presents Serata Spellbound which is a series of four works, choreographed by artistic director and founder of the company itself, Mauro Astolfi. Small Crime, Hesitation Day, Mysterious Engine, and Lost For Words studio III. Small Crime is nerving, thought provoking dance that discusses the faults we commit in building relationships. The first “crime” being stubborn and forceful to enter someone’s life, pleading for their attention. The second “crime” is the one that can potentially break us: rejection. This rejection leads to vengeance, and seeing the other person as a completely new entity, a distorted vision of who they are.

Hesitation Day is male quartet, eerie with their movements, and a sense of separation from the mind, thinking, and judgment reckons the stage. Hesitation, both an action of pausing before doing something, and then a reluctance. With both meanings, it is a moment to stop, and think of our true aspirations in this world. It is a message not about making a decision, and how our thoughts disperse. There are people who will understand us, but some, unable to follow. Mysterious Engine is a saddened truth about freedom of humans. We frequently change, and lose parts of our identities. Our bodies are mechanisms to serve as remedies from being dismantled. Each individual life is a mystery, but finding freedom in our own souls falls between the lines controlling our desires, navigating us towards freedom.

The final segment of this performance is Lost for Words studio III is empty, cruel inner dialogue we experience, and the empty words we project onto others. This work is the final act of a trilogy, based on the teaching of the Egyptian spiritual master Ptahhopte: to find strength in our words. The piece seeks to discuss that there is power is language, when words are associated with significance. This four -part spectacle concludes the third week of the festival on Sunday, July 22 at 9:30pm. Ultimately, it a series that describes one of the most powerful tools a human possesses, and what can be destructive at times: communication.

Saturday, July 21 is a special evening, with three different companies embracing the stage.  New Generation, beginning at 9:30 pm will present choreographies by the Toscana Dance Hub, Compagnia DNA, and Antitesi. Toscana Dance Hub will present a performance from their summer intensive students, choreographed by Emilie Camacho and Ryan Manson. Titled Dancers, it will show the even in youth, the power of and determination of young dancers as professionals.

Compagnia DNA’s Guida Per Risolvere Il Cubo Di Rubik, choreographed by Elisa Pagani, is a story of a “What If” loves story. It follows the lives of what would of become Mr. and Mrs. Montecchi; children, aging together, highs, lows, and all the bits that fall in between. This warming piece investigates how to be transparent with love, without fear of it. It is a concept to give this feeling an opportunity to grow with others. Love is not mutually exclusive with reality. The stage will feature dancers ranging from the ages of 14-70, to demonstrate time and maturity interplays with love’s complexities.

Antitesi will conclude the evening with Franto choreographed by Arianna Benedetti. The new work will certainly reflect her high intensity staccato style that has made her an acclaimed and in-demand artist across Florence, including teaching and choreographing at Balletto di Toscana, Florence Dance Center, and Opus Ballet.

For tickets and more information, visit http://www.florencedancefestival.org/

(jennifer klammer)