Never odd or even is a vr creation by Fernando Melo in the framework of Virtual Dance for Real People.

What happens when dance, technology and an immersive experience in the artistic sites of the Emilia Romagna region get together? Choreographer Fernando Melo has no choice but to abandon himself to the dream, and explore it, even if it turns out to be a nightmare where movements are in slow motion, and gravity follows different rules.

This is what happens to the two dancers, dreamlike figures that try in vain to reunite while an irresistible force pulls them apart. The audience does away with the “fourth wall” and the usual conceptions of space and time, and follows the dancers into the Classense Library. Upon awakening, in the Mosaics Hall, the mind is still projected into a dimension where the barriers between dance and virtual reality are broken.

Virtual Dance for Real People #Ravenna

New paths for a unique theatre event
Immersive and live experience

Never odd or even
concept and choreography Fernando Melo
music Stars of the Lid
performers Philippe Kratz and Grace Lyell
costumes Nuvia Valestri
video direction Guido Acampa

technological development and user experience design RE:Lab
video production & editing Riot Studio (Lapej)

a production Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto
In the framework of Virtual Dance for Real People promoted and co-produced by Fondazione Palazzo Magnani
co-production Ravenna Festival

Premiere 8-9 July 2022, Ravenna Festival, Biblioteca Classense

As an artist, I am constantly looking for new ways to communicate an idea to the audience: my most recent works seek, for this reason, to influence the viewer’s perspective on the performance. In this new creation I will develop a concept that aims to generate a unique theatrical experience in both “live” and “virtual reality”.

The creation revolves around the concept of dreams: the stories our brain generates when we are asleep have been an enduring source of mystery for scientists, but they are also a source of beautiful images in works of art.
In a dream/nightmare-like world, where movements seem to be in slow motion and gravity plays a different role, two characters try to reunite but their efforts are in vain, an external force keeps them perpetually apart.

The creation combines movement, sound and stage elements to generate a performance that takes place outside the theatre stage, in the evocative spaces of the Classense Library, in the historic centre of Ravenna, a place of great historical and artistic importance.
I wish to develop and explore a new movement vocabulary; the choreography develops from the space and the story, the look, the feeling and the atmosphere generated by the environment will become key ingredients of the work. The choice of soundtrack to support this dreamlike scenario comes after a period of experimentation, investigation and rehearsal.

The audience is asked to give up the comfort of the fourth wall and becomes active participants in the performance experience: my hope is that this experience stimulates the audience’s imagination and generate countless interpretations.

Fernando Melo

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