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Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

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

April 10, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

no_gravity_theatre_divina_commedia_screenshot

“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.

Categories: Image Mosaic, Performing Arts
Tagged with: 2021, Acrobatics, Choreography, Dance, Divine Comedy, Italy, Performing Arts, Sculpture Dance, Surrealism

The Sky Over Kibera (2019 film)

November 5, 2021 By Sephora Affa, FSU '24

the-sky-over-kibera-foto-di-andrea-signori-2019-film

“THE SKY OVER KIBERA is an art film: it tells us about the ‘bringing to life’ of the Divine Comedy in the immense slum of Nairobi, Kibera, where the director has worked with 150 children and adolescents, reinventing Dante’s masterpiece in English and Swahili. And he does so with his poetic and visionary style, interweaving other images with the filming of the play, sequences shot specifically in the slum to carry out the alchemical operation of transforming theatre into cinema. Three teenagers from Nairobi offer face and voice to Dante, Virgil, and Beatrice: they are the guides that lead the viewer into the labyrinth of Kibera, where the ‘dark forest’ in which the poet is lost is more than just a metaphor: in Swahili, Kibera means ‘forest.’ Around them a chorus swarming with bodies recites the tumult of being both beasts and damned, thieves and murderers, devils and corrupt politicians and poets who indicate the ways of salvation: between songs and acting, frenetic races and wild dances, the 150 protagonists give life to a fresco full of moving poetry, further confirmation of the universality of Dante’s masterpiece.” [. . .]    —Teatro Delle Albe

View the trailer here.

Image credit Andrea Signori

Contributed by Silvia Valisa (Florida State University)

Categories: Performing Arts, Places
Tagged with: 2019, Beatrice, Dark Wood, Divine Comedy, Films, Kenya, Love that Moves the Sun and Other Stars, Movies, Nairobi, Theater, Virgil

Illustrations by Marco Somà Featured in Danielle Aristarco’s Divina Commedia Children’s Retelling

November 2, 2021 By Sephora Affa, FSU '24

illustration-by-marco-somà-in-childrens-retelling

“…un albo illustrato pensato per piccoli lettori e piccole lettrici dagli otto anni. Si intitola La Divina Commedia – Il primo passo nella selva oscura, è stato pubblicato da Edizioni EL ed è opera di Daniele Aristarco, per i testi, e Marco Somà, per le illustrazioni, due autori che avevano già lavorato assieme a un altro vertice assoluto della letteratura italiana: L’infinito di Leopardi.

“Uscito in questi giorni, il libro nasce come occasione per muovere — come suggerisce il titolo — i primi passi all’interno di una ricchissima, complessa, ostica opera-mondo. Non si tratta di una riduzione né di una parafrasi, come hanno ben spiegato Aristarco e Somà nell’incontro online per le scuole tenutosi oggi stesso, ma di una sorta di «accompagnamento sulla soglia» della Divina Commedia, tramite tesi e immagini, con entrambi i linguaggi scaturiti da una personale lettura e visione del racconto dantesco.

“Somà, che ha l’invidiabile capacità di riuscire a restituire col suo segno l’enorme spettro delle emozioni che la sua altrettanto sottile sensibilità ha il potere di catturare, ha scelto di rappresentare i personaggi come animali umanizzati, escamotage che consente di superare i confini geografici, etnici, di genere e di età — «Qualunque bambino, di qualunque parte del pianeta può riconoscersi più facilmente negli atteggiamenti, nelle abitudini, nel carattere di un personaggio animale o di un personaggio astratto, proprio perché si aggira il limite della caratterizzazione umana», spiegava tempo fa l’artista durante un’intervista con la nostra Zazie Vostok.

“Partendo da semplici fondini ad acquerello, Somà ha poi lavorato alle sue bellissime tavole ispirandosi, per i colori, alle miniature del ‘300.” [. . .]    –Simone Sbarbati, Frizzifrizzi, March 25, 2021

See the children’s book here.

See more of Marco Somà’s illustrations on Instagram here. See a visual interview here and a written interview here.

Also at the exhibit: puppetry by Liza Rendina here.

Contributed by Emma Marigliano

Categories: Image Mosaic, Visual Art & Architecture, Written Word
Tagged with: 2021, Children's Literature, Cuneo, Divina Commedia, Divine Comedy, Illustrations, Italy, Retellings

Illuminating Dante Exhibit at the University of Arkansas

October 23, 2021 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

illuminating-dante-poster-small

“Presented from October 5-31, the exhibit consists of 22 items from Special Collections, including a recently acquired 1520 exemplar of the Divine Comedy with commentary by Cristoforo Landino, one full-page woodcut illustration, and 98 smaller woodcuts introducing each canto. Also on view are various editions of Dante’s masterpiece in Italian and English, with illustrations by Gustave Doré and John Flaxman, and works connected to or inspired by the Divine Comedy, including a collection of poems by Vittoria Colonna (1548) and a treatise by Lucrezia Marinella (1601).

“The exhibit includes medieval, early modern, and modern illustrations of the Divine Comedy, ranging from 13th-century illuminations to Sandro Botticelli’s and William Blake’s illustrations. Finally, the exhibit displays works that explore the reception of Dante’s masterpiece across cultural contexts, with works from countries including Spain and France. Examples from the African American community are represented, as well.” [. . .]    — University of Arkansas News, October 5, 2021

See more information about the exhibit here.

Categories: Places, Visual Art & Architecture
Tagged with: 2021, 700th anniversary, Adaptations, African American, Arkansas, Collections, Divine Comedy, Exhibits, Fayetteville, Gustave Doré, Illumination, Illustrations, Italian, John Flaxman, United States, University

Depeche Mode, Walking in My Shoes (1993)

October 19, 2021 By Ezra Berman '23

“The video for Depeche Mode song ‘Walking In My Shoes’ (1993), directed by Anton Corbijn, was inspired by the Comedy.”    —Wikipedia

Categories: Music
Tagged with: 1993, Divine Comedy, Electronic, Great Britain, Music, Music Videos, New Wave

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How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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