New York City – Page 17

Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten, “Popopera” (2009)

September 25, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“After presenting their highly acclaimed HELL, based on Dante’s Inferno, Emio Greco | PC has completed [purgatorio] POPOPERA which will have its NYC premiere at The Joyce Theater. The company takes its inspiration from Dante’s literary depiction of a geographical place and feeling of transition that provides the opening for inner transformation. Greco and Scholten have said, ‘whereas in HELL we let our dancers wander round the same circles each time, in [purgatorio] POPOPERA they break out of them. The will, the need to live and especially the hope for the future are the essential motives. In [purgatorio] POPOPERA we try to show the audience other images than it expects of those overly familiar themes that cling to the concept of purgatory (catharsis, purification through suffering, …) in order to approach these themes from new angles.’ The company invites audiences to witness the transformation and synergies between dancers’ bodies and the lustrous black electric guitars they carry in this performance that melds dance with rock concert. The piece features original music composed by Bang-on-a-Can founder Michael Gordon, performed live by the dancers and soprano Michaela Riener.” [. . .] —Off Broadway, September 16, 2009

Rene Migliaccio, “Dante’s Inferno” Blackmoon Theatre Company (NYC, 2009)

August 18, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“In this new adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, Artistic Director Rene Migliaccio creates a multicultural, multidisciplinary and multimedia visual and aural work that positions performers within video projections, redefining traditional theatrical boundaries. Physical Theatre, Music and Poetry in the Italian language create the ritualistic experience of Dante’s journeys through the nine circles of Hell. Canto after canto, Italian performer Alessio Bordoni portrays the character of Dante leading the audience throughout his descent into Hell. The different realms of sin are portrayed through images: moving fragments of collages by critically acclaimed Collage Artist India Evans. Cellist Aminda Asher performs a classical score, a pre-consciousness of Dante’s journey into Hell. In ‘Dante’s Inferno’, the traditional concept of Hell as a place of eternal tortures is re-defined as a condition of spiritual anguish caused by separation from the Sacred.” —Blackmoon Theatre Company

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

Roberto Benigni, “TuttoDante” in the US

May 25, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“…Next week he will begin a short North American tour of TuttoDante, a monologue about Dante’s Divine Comedy that mixes literary insights with off-the-cuff political jokes. In Italy, where he has been doing the show regularly for three years, it has drawn more than a million people.” [. . .] –Ben Sisario, The New York Times, May 22, 2009

Contributed by Pamela Montanaro

“For the record, the Italian actor Roberto Benigni does not believe that New Yorkers are going to Hell. ‘I hope they go to Paradise, every one of them,’ he said last Thursday, in the back seat of a taxi, blinking against the swish and roar of traffic. But that might be because he thinks it’s a journey the city’s residents have already made. ‘This is the beginning of Hell,’ he said. ‘The deeper we go, the greater the range of utterances of grief and fury we will hear. Different colors of people. Slang! Obscenity! Curses! Sighs! Keening!’ He paused while a van blasted its air horn. ‘This is really the sound of Hell,’ he said. ‘But we need to pass through the Inferno to reach Paradise.'” [. . .] –Stephan Faris, The New Yorker, June 1, 2009

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

Diana Puntar, “Less Than Day, or Night” (2007)

April 30, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“Less Than Day, Or Night, my recent sculptural installation at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, continues to explore what I call ‘homemade futurism.’ The piece is inspired by the final cantos of Dante’s Inferno in which Dante, led by Virgil, enters the freezing central pit of hell. At the end, as the pair climb their way out, Dante believes he is descending and becomes disoriented as they reach the top. Like many of us, he is fundamentally confused about the orientation of the world. I find it comforting to know that this kind of basic uncertainty has been with us for centuries.” [. . .] –Diana Puntar, NY Arts Magazine

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

Paul Taylor, “Scudorama” (1963, 2009)

February 15, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“In Scudorama eight dancers, wearing street clothes and bright leotards and using beach towels as shrouds (with sets and costumes designed by the artist Alex Katz), disintegrate into ravaged forms. Like shifting shadows they crawl across the floor in jagged bursts of bewilderment, emptiness and rage. The dance’s accompanying program note, from Dante, begins with ‘What souls are these who run through this black haze?’ For Mr. Taylor, those words refer to the ‘lost souls in purgatory, because they hadn’t done anything good and they hadn’t done anything bad.'” [. . .] –Gia Kourlas, The New York Times, February 13, 2009

Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten, “Popopera” (2009)

Rene Migliaccio, “Dante’s Inferno” Blackmoon Theatre Company (NYC, 2009)

Roberto Benigni, “TuttoDante” in the US

Diana Puntar, “Less Than Day, or Night” (2007)

Paul Taylor, “Scudorama” (1963, 2009)

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