Dance Archives - Dante Today

Inferno “Illusion Dance”, NoGravity Theatre (2021)

April 10, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“Un’opera d’arte completamente insolita, sorprendente e fantasiosa; l’obiettivo richiesto è innegabilmente meravigliare ma, in più, lo spettacolo si basa interamente sui gesti del corpo e su un complesso macchinario privo di qualsiasi elemento virtuale o tecnologico; c’è solo la luce che si infiltra in diagonale su un nero permanente paragonabile ai fondali dei dipinti di Caravaggio” –Antonio Audino, NoGravity Theatre

Inferno is one of the shows presented by touring theatre/dance company NoGravity Theatre. View a post about another one of their shows, Divina Commedia, here.

For more information about the show and the company, visit their website here.

Divina Commedia “Illusion Dance”, NoGravity Theatre (2021)

April 10, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“Sul palco, i ballerini si muovono volando dentro l’aria e creano figure irreali! Ispirazione per le feste del teatro barocco e attingendo alle possibilità tecnologiche attuali, Emiliano Pellisari, autore di questo spettacolo totale, è l’inventore di una singolare arte coreografica, al crocevia della magia, illusionismo e circo. I suoi ballerini, come liberati dalla gravità, fluttuano nell’aria al ritmo della musica che spazia dal rock al classico. Ispirato alle cantiche più famose di Dante, unisce Magritte ed Escher nel suo universo surrealista. Pellisari ci porta in un sogno ad occhi aperti, sbalorditivo per non dire bellezza pura.” –Anne-Catherine Sutermeister, NoGravity Theatre

Divina Commedia is one of the shows put on by touring, acrobatic theatre company NoGravity. For more information about the show and the production company, visit their website here.

See our other post featuring NoGravity and their adaptation of Dante’s Inferno here.

Dante and Dance at Dante Season 2021

February 14, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

On November 4, 2021, the collaborative effort behind Dante in Oxford hosted the “Dante and Dance” event. The performance was described as follows:

“Luc Petton, choreographer, will present a screening of Ainsi la Nuit, his extraordinary ballet for human dancers, birds, and animals inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. Luc Petton will also be in conversation with members of the audience. The event is programmed in conjunction with the display ‘The Divine Comedy from Manuscript to Manga’ which is open to the public in an adjacent space of the Bodleian’s Weston Library. The film screening will be followed by a response from Professor Sue Jones and a Q&A.” —TORCH (retrieved February 13, 2022)

More information about “Dante and Dance” and its programming can be found here.

Other Dante in Oxford posts can be found here.

Serata Dantesca at Dante Season 2021

February 7, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

On November 13, 2021, the collaborative effort behind Dante in Oxford hosted the “Serata Dantesca” event. The performance was described as:

“A programme of music, poetry, and dance presented in the Holywell Music Room, featuring performers who are almost all Oxford-based teachers, researchers, and students. In addition to Italian and English readings and some older choral and solo musical compositions, new translations and settings have been specially commissioned for this commemorative occasion marking the 700th anniversary of the death of the great Italian poet.” —TORCH (retrieved February 7, 2022)

More information about the “Serata Dantesca” and its programming can be found here.

Other Dante in Oxford posts can be found here.

The Dante Project, The Royal Ballet (2021)

October 11, 2021 By Professor Elizabeth Coggeshall

“Presented as part of the 700th anniversary celebrations of the poet’s death, Dante’s epic journey through the afterlife, The Divine Comedy, is realised in a major artistic collaboration between trailblazing forces of the contemporary arts scene.

“In an inaugural co-production with Paris Opera Ballet and music co-commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wayne McGregor’s groundbreaking choreography comes together with a virtuoso new score by one of the most influential musicians of the 21st Century, composer-conductor Thomas Adès, and designs by the acclaimed artist Tacita Dean, celebrated for her pioneering and poetic work across film and other mediums. With esteemed lighting designer Lucy Carter and dramaturg Uzma Hameed, the creative team unite in this three-part work for the full Company to illuminate the extraordinary vision of Dante.” —The Dante Project, Royal Opera House

Book tickets here (runs from October 14-30, 2021).

Stream the ballet here (from October 29, 2021).

A couple of teasers! Watch principals Francesca Hayward and Matthew Ball rehearse Inferno 5 (Paolo and Francesca in the whirlwind), with direction from Wayne McGregor, here.

And watch principals Edward Watson and Sarah Lamb rehearse the meeting with Beatrice in the Earthly Paradise here.

Sarah Crompton, writing for The Guardian, calls the performance “bold, beautiful, emotional and utterly engaging. The opening section, Inferno, where Dante (Watson) journeys to hell in the company of Virgil (Gary Avis), all but blows your socks off.” Read the review here.

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