MILAN, ITALY – The long-awaited Italian debut of Mauro Bigonzetti’s famed Caravaggio, staged for the first time in Italy as part of the 87th edition of the namesake festival, finally landed in Milan at Teatro Arcimboldi.
The lead performer in Caravaggio is La Scala’s étoile Roberto Bolle, ambassador of Italian culture around the world and spokesperson for the spreading of ballet as an accessible art form for artists and aficionados alike. Bolle is joined by some of the best soloists of international calibre and a corps de ballet created for the occasion through auditions, comprising 26 dancers and six soloists.
Photograph: Michele Monasta
Photograph: Michele Monasta
This is an all-Italian project, created in 2008 for the Staatsballett Berlin, directed by Vladimir Malakhov, conceived by Bigonzetti, acclaimed Italian choreographer on the contemporary scene, with music by composer and conductor Bruno Moretti.
The work is powerful and memorable and is inspired by the works of the Italian painter Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), whose complexity Bigonzetti highlights, celebrates the aspects that make up the man and the artist.
Photograph: Michele Monasta
On the one hand, his troubled inner world, driven by a particularly restless soul, and on the other, the story told through the expression of his art. Caravaggio, following the mixture of these two aspects, thus becomes a psychological and dramatic ballet, which from a dramaturgical point of view has its recurring ‘notes’ in solos, duets, trios and quartets, interspersed with choral scenes that ease the tension and set in motion an action essentially centred on Caravaggio’s ego.
Thanks to the essential stage design and lighting, skilfully created by Carlo Cerri, the union between the two worlds branches out, enhancing the choreographic concept and emphasising the movement of the bodies.
by Chidozie Obasi