Excelsior

2018 (on tour) | collaborator, performer

Teaser

In 1881, the Gran Ballo Excelsior, one of the most successful Italian dances of the 19th century, debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. These were crucial years for the affirmation of modern European culture and identity; years characterised by the industrial revolution and colonial imperialism, the triumph of science, the struggle between civilisation and the barbarity of obscurantism.

If these themes across the entire structure of the Gran Ballo, it can be understood why Salvo Lombardo, heading the company Chiasma, has chosen to use it as a point of reference for his new production. Commencing with the b allet, in fact, the Italian choreographer and dancer constructs a performance aimed at questioning the current concept of modernity.

His Excelsior appears as a container of narratives that frame the European political and social situation through the specific lens of the representation of the body and the exoteric imaginaries that the present proposes once more through its languages, images and media. The result is a choreographic score that grinds movements and music together, returning them to the present as traces of a past that is closer than we may think.

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Premiere :
― 2018, Oriente Occidente Festival

Credits

Concept, choreography, direction
Salvo Lombardo

Performance
Jaskaran Anand, Cesare Benedetti, Lily Brieu, Lucia Cammalleri, Leonardo Diana, Fabritia D’Intino, Daria Greco and with Around Excelsior workshop dancers

Choreography collaborator
Daria Greco

Music
Fabrizio Alviti

Cultural advisor
Viviana Gravano

Film contribution
Isabella Gaffè

Homo Homini Lupus video
Filippo Berta

Production
Chiasma, Roma

Co-production
Théâtre National de Chaillot, Paris; Festival Oriente Occidente, Rovereto; Fabbrica Europa, Florence; Romaeuropa Festival, Rome; Versiliadanza, Florence

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