The work of Gabriella is fascinating, and has been very interesting for me to be exposed to so many inputs and technical skills, not only by her but by the whole team. A great learning opportunity for me.

Viceversa it was for me very tempting to put into the process all I had in my mind about intention, duration, rythm, inner expression and form… And see without the pressure of directing what could be of use.

The first outcome of the work, a presentation called Supernova 1 &2 will be presented the 5th of July in premiere at over het Ij festival in Amsterdam.

You are all welcome to come to giva a look!

Come, see and judge by yourself. Then please if you like tell me were you recognize my hand, I don’t know anymore

L’8 di luglio, in SPAZIO TEATRO (Largo Oberdan) Spoleto, alle ore 21:00 sara’ presentato lo spettacolo “Samadhi – Le Furie” come parte del programma “La Mama – Spoleto Open”.

foto by Francesco Cavaliere

http://www.theaterinstituut.nl/

The page with Francesco’s choices for the competition…

La Scala (the staircase) from Umbra SOlis on Vimeo.

Rooting-Sotto la radice

By Federico Bonelli e Benedetta Mazzotti, performed by Eleonora Cantarini, Benedetta Mazzotti and Giovanna Rovedo. Voice (in italian version) Valeria Bianchi, (the dutch version) Mareille Labohm. Maraille also made the very poetic translation of the text in dutch.

In this first fragment we see the girl, Kore, interpreted by Giovanna Rovedo.

The second fragment illustrates the inner position of the prisoner of Ades, the king of the underword. She has been abducted, segregated, and she mutates from Kore to Persephone.

Rooting – Sequence 02: Proserpina from Umbra SOlis on Vimeo.

Benedetta Mazzotti dances her own choreography for “Sotto la Radice” and awakes into the underworld.

The footage comes from the actual performances in Amsterdam Melkweg theater, and from the character forming and movement research sessions done together with Benedetta in the previous periods.

In particular some of the sounds, like the bells, come from Sardinia and have been recorded in Orroli (SS) during the residencie with Claudia Castellucci by Benedetta.
The final small sequence in this clip, were the titles flow, is a hint to another finale for the performance. I have added it to wish that to every trip as such, no matter why you find yourself in need to pass through the underworld, you will get to to a perfect exit to the other side. In the honey dripping sunset of our real life.

Benedetta Mazzotti dances Proserpina.
Choreography by Benedetta
Direction Federico Bonelli
Video by Federico Bonelli, Francesco Cavaliere and Victor Nieuwenhuis

TRIVIA: This version of the clip came out by chance exactly 6’22″ seconds and 11 frames, the exact measure of maximum length that i magically computed for Cinema Solubile in 2004.

A third fragment includes the solo of Eleonora Canterini, as Ecate, the iron queen of the underworld…

Film credits:
Images shot by Francesco Cavaliere and Victor Nieuwenhuis,
Editing and extra video Federico Bonelli,
Live Sound recording by Michael Dotolo

Kore

“Thank you ladies and genlemans. It is a honour for us to have you here tonight to see our work. I have been asked by the programmer of the Melkweg Theater here to give a little introduction speech out of the door, and so I do with pleasure.
What you are going to see tonight is a montage of tree pieces of work -created during the last year and a half- out of a common research with the choreographer Benedetta Mazzotti, her dancers, and the group of artists that have decided to join in the umbra solis project.
I don’t like to talk about the pieces to an audience that can see it in few minutes. Benedetta and I will be available after the performance in the bar to answer any question and to welcome your feedback about our work.

A few words about Umbra Solis. The project name comes from a image I was busy about. It is latin and means “the sun’s shadow”. I asked myself what could be like the shadow made by the objects himself that gives light. Maybe the shadow is inside? Umbra Solis is a term that we find in alchemy, and that is not really clear what it means. Maybe the need, as Carl Gustav Jung states, that is necessary to dig into the shadow to get to the essence of the “I” in a process that he calls “individuation”?
I live you with this question, and please feel welcome to our own exploration first results.”

(introductory speech)

La Scala

(the staircase) 2011

Mise an scene, concept and design Federico Bonelli music Alberto Novello, performed by Miguel H. Garcia (percussions) e Elisa Battistutta (electronics)

Le Furie

(the furies) 2010

by Federico Bonelli and Benedetta Mazzotti
dancers Eleonora Cantarini, Benedetta Mazzotti, Giovanna Rovedo
choreography by Benedetta

produced by umbrasolis
design, direction and dramaturgy F.B.
lights Vincent Van Roon
Costumes for “Le Furie” have been made by Yari Molinari

Sotto la Radice

(rooting)

by Federico Bonelli and Benedetta Mazzotti
dancers Eleonora Cantarini, Benedetta Mazzotti, Giovanna Rovedo
voice (on the italian version) Valeria Bianchi, (on the dutch version) Mareille Labohm
We are in debt to Mareille Labohm for the beautyfull dutch version of the original italian text.

multimedia technics, mixing and direct sound Michael Dotolo
technics Alessandro Vozza
video and documentation Victor Nieuwenhuis and Francesco Cavaliere
photos Francesco Cavaliere

Melkweg theater Flyer

Umbra Solis will present a showcase performance the 14/15 of April in the Melkweg Theater in Amsterdam.

The double event will include Samadhi (the furies) and a new piece called Rooting.

Eleonora Cantarini in a study for Rooting

Time derives from movement and is movement that reveals time. To see a certain kind of movements changes the perception of time.

Irreversibility is the name we use for a damage that cannot be fixed. And is a rule.

The Mind we call “our” is connected to and lived by a mind that is not us, and thus is visited by everyone.

Darkness is the condition of Eternity. Geometry is another name for the things we draw in the dark.

In darkness there are figures that move.

Sound come before the word. And the word is God. From the sound took shape light and light is in the shape of all there is.

The following is the trailer.
more information to follow…

Illustration

Io mi sento immerso nelle cose, circondato dalle cose, spesso cose che hanno un prezzo ma non un valore. Per carattere non amo i prezzi e testardamente voglio dare un valore alle cose. Con cose che hanno valore si puo’ costruire una lingua differente da quella comune, e parlarsi con questa lingua ci tiene svegli, vicini alla vita e lontani dal regno della risposta automatica, del sonno intermittente, della paura di esserci e persino dalla paura delle cose. Io voglio costruirmi una lingua di valore.

Ho studiato. Lo studio aiuta a costruire reti con cui ogni tanto ho anche catturato qualcosa di valore. Qualche volta l’ho tenuto scritto cio’ che ho catturato, molto piu’ spesso l’ho detto subito a qualcuno, raccontato, usato per trovare altro, per tirare su una bella forma, per dare le ali a un sogno vago e farlo vivere di giorno, per guardarlo assieme a un amico, per spararlo in faccia a un nemico vero o inventato, per ridere, per piangere per tacere e lasciare che tacesse assieme alla Zia Meraviglia, per fare innamorare di me.

Dico spesso che lo studio l’hanno scoperto i filosofi per invidia dei poeti. I poeti avevano dato un nome alle stelle, inventato storie sugli dei, spiegato gli uomini. E per questo i poeti avevano sempre sedotto i giovinetti piu’ belli. Cosi’ i Filosofi, per invidia, introdussero il logos e rovinarono la festa. Il logos, la lingua che rimane dentro la testa e non tocca davvero le cose. Costruisce universi e poi li distrugge. Il piu’ affilato dei coltelli.

Allora io il mio studio l’ho trasformato in formule, in numeri, e ho passato anni a infilare formule dentro delle macchine che le mangiano e le trasformano in cose, alle volte in cose di valore. Alle volte in parole per la mia nuova lingua, una lingua che ha senso solo se almeno due persone la comprendono e che oramai e’ imparentata con la lingua che parlano tutti senza capirne veramente il valore. E questo mi ha provocato molto, aiutato a fare uscire dal sottobosco in cui vivevo, mi ha aperto la testa e l’ha seminata. Ma non mi e’ mai bastato, perche’ a me piace soprattutto essere felice e lo sono se ho qualcosa che posso raccontare, come il poeta, sotto le stelle, attorno al fuoco, magari per sedurre qualcuno.

La mia lingua valente ha ancora poche parole, cerco di farla saltare e ballare, e qualche volta canta. La devo affinare, provare in racconti che scolpiscano la vita rimanendo nella sua memoria, nei modi di dire, nei suoi racconti.
Per ora la tengo stretta, ci vogliamo bene, e stiamo bene l’uno con l’altro.

Lettera di presentazione al progetto di residenza “Le Ville Matte” a Orroli (SA)

it is the edited clip of an improvisation she did last night.

The structure of movement constructed with care for the previous choreographic essays is about to collapse. In front of an entrance, at the threshold, is necessary to deal with the hart.

What I see happening are some first steps into chaos. We are about to look for the Dionysian side of the work, stepping out of intuitions and reasoning. A starting point for what is to be done. I observe. I reverberate.

Going backwards in the structure of the myth both chronologically and logically we find Orphism. Meditate… Is as dark as it gets in a night without moon.

The clip is danced, felt, shot and edited by Benedetta, the violin(?) music is by Jan Tyrsen. More is due to come…

threshold
noun
1 the threshold of the church: doorstep, doorway, entrance, entry, door, gate, gateway, portal, doorsill.
2 the threshold of a new era: start, beginning, commencement, brink, verge, cusp, dawn, inception, day one, opening, debut; informal kickoff.
3 the human threshold of pain: lower limit, minimum.

La Soglia (at the threshold) from Umbra SOlis on Vimeo.

After many years of dreaming and talking about it, we managed to have a live performance were a film was edited on the music, following the score, and then performed live, to sync to the music on the beat of the whole orchestra.

The first time I talked about it was with Frank Scheffer in a Amsterdam Bar in 2002. At the time Lucas was his assistant.

The project was then pursued tenaciously by Lucas van Woerkum and realized for the first time for the film Sofia, premiered the 12th of June in the Dominicus Kerk in Amsterdam. The images here refer to the COncertgebouw evening of the 17th.

The film is written over the beautiful score of Dirk Brossé. Music is directed by Libia Hernandez and performed by the UvA-Orkest J.Pzn Sweelinck, with a splendid Rosanne Philippens as viola soloist.

The incasso of the evening went to the Leukemia fonds, an organization that helps children in hospitals in holland.

The system to do symphonic cinema, as Lucas calls it, is designed by me but for the solutions of most of the problems I am in debt to Daniele Ciabattoni, that solved them in long sessions of on-line coding.

Lucas cued the 42 different pieces of the film score with an ipad from within the orchestra, using a custom interface built on the great “TouchOSC”, a software by Robert “Hexeler” Fischer and that alone justifies the cost of an ipad…

for more infos on the project see: http://www.liefs.org/

AND

I must add my thanks to all that supported us and me during the project specially my girls here that could not really understand why I was up till 3 so many nights…