Aterballetto Dance Company wows Rome

Imagine an Italian dance company and its cultural heritage, than put it on the European contemporary scene. Give it the chance to work with two of the most renowned choreographers, one from the US and one from Sweden, and see.

The interpretation given by the Aterballetto of all these different languages mixed with a balanced, meticulous and rich study of scenography, light design and music, brought the public of Rome to wonder.

On May 27 and 28, the Company staged at the Teatro Olimpico ‘Workwithinwork’ and ‘Rain Dogs’; the first by William Forsythe and the other one by Johan Inger.

Based on Luciano Berio’s music, Workwithinwork relate the dancers with a sort of ultra-dimensional state of movement. Encapsulated in a big black space, the Company follow the notes of ‘Duetti per due violini, vol.1, 1979-83’ giving life to a non-stopped sequence of classic figures and duets. Dressed with simple coloured tops and black shorts, the dancers open in the austere Nevelson-like backdrop gashes of light, generating a kind of animated Lucio Fontana incursion.

Suddenly with Rain Dogs the public is brought to a cartoonish-jazz reality. Tom Wait’s voice melts in a continuous glittering rain falling on the dancers, while his music make them move as if they were in a supernatural possession. The structure of Inger’s choreography turned the performers in characters of a graphic novel by Chester Gould and makes them tell a story full of twists. Pushed by the rhythm, every figure ends up standing alone with his loneliness.

Much appreciated by the audience, this second part of the show is, indeed, symmetrical and functional for the understanding of a higher aim reached by Aterballetto. Regardless of his origins, William Forsythe chooses a series of elements deep-rooted in the European culture sharing with the public his experience and vision of it. On the other hand Johan Inger applies the same paradox to his narrative language. Only by seeing the two choreographies in sequence it’s possible to perceive this exchange.

Perfectly fitting on our time, Aterballetto keeps demonstrating its unstoppable creative charge, its attention to the artistic international scene and, together with the cleverness of its dancers, always brings to its audiences unpredictable questions and unexpected answers.