Download Italian Premiere DADA MASILO in CARMEN from 29 October to 2

Italian Premiere
DADA MASILO
in
CARMEN
from 29 October to 2 November | Brancaccio Theatre
21h00, Sunday 17h00
Coproduction Romaeuropa Festival 2014 and BrancaccioTheatre
Dada Masilo returns to Romaeuropa with her new show, Carmen, electrifying adaptaiton
of George Bizet’s famous opera at the Brancaccio Theatre from 29 October to 2
November.
After the performance of Swan Lake that consecrated her to the Italian public in the last edition
of the Festival, Masilo together with 12 dancers return to investigate the relationship between
men and women through passion, violence and tenderness, by adapting a classic opera of
seduction; Carmen. Choreographer and dancer; born in Soweto a township of Johannesburg,
with her creations, Masilo transmits energy and vitality, mixing contemporary dance with
traditional African dance and ballet. In Carmen, incandescent matter that has inspired
hundreds of theatre shows, ballet’s, movies and the most diverse artists from Carlos Saura to
Peter Brook and Jean-Luc Godard, Masilo adds the spell of flamenco that underlines the force
and sensuality of an opera that has excited and fascinated generations of spectators for over a
century.
“Through dance I like to tell stories that relate to the present time of our life, the classics give you
this opportunity”, remarks the same choreographer. The story of Carmen, adapted to music by
Bizet in 1875, is famous: in the slums of Seville, a community of gypsies live as illegals in
defiance of social rules. Carmen the gypsy, a woman of liberal thought and customs, seduces
the men she wants and challenges the bullfighter, Escamillo and the weaknesses of the
seargent, Don Josè, who ends up by killing her. Masilo, not new to these initiatives, enforces
the story in different moments, illuminating a few characters with a new personality, among
which Micaela, who becomes the mirror of the same Carmen.
“The initial idea” – explains Masilo - was to unveil Carmen, searching for the woman that is
hiding in the folds of the ballet and to find the weaknesses behind the cold and impenetrable
surface!. With regard to the music, the choice of the choreographer fell on the suite for
ballet that Rodion Ščedrin achieved on the themes and the original music by Bizet, with
the addition of the "Habanera" with the interpretation of Maria Callas and two excerpts
from the “Lamentate" by Arvo Pärt.
CARMEN
Choreography Dada Masilo
dancers Dada Masilo, Nadine Alexa Buys, Sonia Zandile Constable, Phindile Kula, Ipeleng Merafe,
Refiloe Mogje, Khaya Ndlovu, Cindy Okkers, Thami Majela, Songezo Mcilizeli, Llewellyn Mnguni,
Thabani Ntuli, Nonofo Olekeng, Kyle Heinz Rossouw, Tshepo Zasekhaya, Xola Willie
dancing teacher Rosana Maya
tecnichal director Emmanuel Journoud
stage director François Saint-Cyr
production assistant Sarah Bonjean
creation 2014 première at the Biennale de Danse de Lyon/September 2014
company The Dance Factory
director Suzette Le Sueur
music Georges Bizet, Rodion Ščcedrin, Arvo Pärt
light creation Suzette Le Sueur
costume creation Dada Masilo, Suzette Le Sueur
costumes Ann Bailes, Kobus O’Callaghan
production The Dance Factory/Suzette Le Sueur, Interarts Lausanne/Chantal e Jean-Luc Larguier
marketing Scènes de la Terre/Martine Dionisio
co-production Biennale de la danse/Lyon, Théâtre du Rond-Point/Paris, Les Théâtres de la Ville de
Luxembourg/Luxembourg, L’Espace des Arts/Chalon-sur-Saône, Théâtres en Dracénie/Draguignan,
La Rampe - Scène conventionnée danse et musique/Echirolles
realized in Rome in collaboration with Brancaccio Theatre
with the patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of South Africa
ROMAEUROPA FESTIVAL
Promotion and ticket office: tel. 06.4555.3050 - www.romaeuropa.net
Press Office: tel. 06.4555.3014 | e_mail: [email protected]