MEMENTO – OPEN REHEARSAL

Innovative, out-of-the-box and label-free, “Memento” is a celebration of the self in all its forms and rests its foundation on gender equality. Performers are asked to renounce the inherent characteristics associated with their gender or stereotypes about it. The gaze becomes fixed, facial expressions limited, however, they are also given the opportunity to express, in a fluid manner and according to stage sensibility, the emotionality perceived at that particular moment. Nothing has to start from an idea, but from an internal impulse: in this way the body does not drag behind a stereotyped gesturality, and the choreographic dynamics are built free of all patterns, so that the man can be lifted up by the woman, if the inner need of the couple on stage requires it, reversing (or following) the canons without preconceived barriers.

The succession of tension and apparent calm involves every aspect of the staging. The lights rest on the performers like spots that suddenly appear and, just as suddenly, vanish, conveying the anxiety and agony felt by the play’s protagonists. The atmosphere of unease tends to be amplified by an eternal return to choreographic stillness, stillness that is, however, constantly challenged, not only by the progression of light and darkness, but also by the scenographic dynamics that, by evoking those places that seem suspended between the earthly and the otherworldly like the monolithic complex of Stonehenge, increases the sense of uncertainty and inner disequilibrium. The musical score also contributes to this effect of constant suspension and restart. While, through moments of lightness and irony, the anguish seems to be successfully concealed, Arvo Pärt’s music reinforces the emotionality, denying both dancers and spectators to remain indifferent to the feelings that transpire from the work.