Odisseo
year
2011
duration
80'
ODISSEO – il naufragio dell’accoglienza (the wreck of the welcoming)
4th step from the project re-mapping Sicily
creation for 8 dancers and one soprano
choreography and direction Roberto Zappalà
dramaturgy Nello Calabrò and Roberto Zappalà
music G.Bryars, P.Castrogiovanni, G.Mahler, A.Meeropol, C.Porter, M.Herbert, G. Prokofieff,E.Satie, W.A.Mozart, G.Rossini, C.Chaplin, G&I Gershwin, J.Dowland
musical sketches, collages and decoupages Puccio Castrogiovanni
digital brushes and paste Salvo Noto
dancers Adriano Coletta, Lorenza Di Calogero, Samantha Franchini, Rumiko Otsuka,
Roberto Provenzano, Fernando Roldan Ferrer, Salvatore Romania, Antoine Roux-Briffaud
soprano Marianna Cappellani
voice of Franco Battiato for the texts of Lucrezio, Plutarco
set and lights Roberto Zappalà
costumes Debora Privitera and Roberto Zappalà
masks Istvan Zimmermann/Plastikart
choreographer’s assistant Daniela Bendini
photos Antonio Caia
a coproduction by compagnia zappalà danza – Scenario Pubblico performing arts
in collaboration with Teatro Stabile of Catania, ArtEZ Arnhem (NL) and AME Associazione Musicale Etnea
A step further in Zappalà’s project Re-mapping Sicily, “ODISSEO” (Odysseus/Ulysses) focuses on the theme of migration and the relation between us Westerners and the migrants. Similarly to Odysseus’s journeys, many of today’s tragic odysseys are set across the Mediterranean Sea, with Sicily at its very centre. Throughout much of its history since the 1800s, Sicily has experienced major waves of emigration.
Was Odysseus/Ulysses a migrant? Is today’s migrant a new Ulysses? Differences notwithstanding, Ulysses was undoubtedly a foreigner who, in his long nostos, had to face the ethics of inclusion. The encounter/clash with the Other is the true challenge of the 21st century; as Ryszard Kapuscinski says, “The Other is a mirror in which we can see ourselves reflected or in which others can see ourselves reflected: a mirror that unmasks and exposes us, something we would prefer to avoid”; and furthermore, “all of us, inhabitants of our planet, are Other for Others”.
The entire evening performance “Odisseo” has been premièred on the 13th January 2011 and it has been developed by the choreographer through several laboratorial steps called "pre-testi", with the collaboration of those structures that has been actively involved in the project.
The first step “pre-testo 1. naufragio” [pre-text 1. shipwreck] , has been proposed in the frame of the uva grapes Catania contemporary dance festival in august, while “pre-testo 2. accoglienza” [pre-text 2. welcoming] has been elaborated between september and october 2010 in The Netherlands in collaboration with ArtEZ Dansacademie of Arnhem.
