With its visceral, passionate gestural language, Mauro Bigonzetti’s Cantata evokes rugged Mediterranean beauty and embraces the colours of the South. Instinctive and vital, the dance explores the multiple facets of relationships between men and women, from seduction and passion to quarrels and jealousy. The voices and music of the four on-stage singers draw the ten pairs of dancers into the festive working-class atmosphere of Southern Italy, to the sounds of the tambourine and castanets.
Cantata pays homage to Italian culture and to its musical tradition, popular in the most noble sense of the word. The piece is inspired by Italian music from the 18th and 19th centuries, from lullabies to the pizziche of Salento, and with a nod to Neapolitan serenades. This heritage comes to life on stage through the performance of four singers and musicians, accompanying the dancers to the sound of frame drums and the diatonic button accordion. They interpret traditional Neapolitan songs that immerse the public in the atmosphere of Southern Italy. The choreography brings the dancers in a hectic, masterful, compelling, and infinitely complex movement, just as passionate relationships can be. An explosive cocktail, just like Mount Vesuvius in the Neapolitan imaginary.
Length: 40 minutes.
Choreography: Mauro Bigonzetti
Costumes: Helena De Medeiros
Lighting: Carlo Cerri
Music: original and traditional music from southern Italy. Cristina Vetrone (vocals and organetto), Lorella Monti (vocals, tambourine and castanets), Enza Pagliara (vocals, tambourine, tammorra and castanets), Enza Prestia (vocals, tambourine and tammorra)
Created for the Ballet Gulbenkian, Lisbon, 2001
Restaged for Aterballetto, Teatro Verdi, Pisa, 2002
North American Premiere by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
on May 24, 2007, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts, Montréal
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec
Spain Manager: Ysarca Art Promotions-Pilar de Yzaguirre
*Live music performed by an ensemble:
Cristina Vetrone, vocals and organetto
Lorella Monti, vocals, tambourine and castanets
Enza Prestia, vocals, tambourine and tammorra
Enza Pagliara, vocals, tambourine, tammorra and Castane
Cast
Opening
James Lyttle, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Étienne Delorme, Bernard Dubois II, Théodore Poubeau, Marcel Gutiérrez, Graeme Fuhrman, Célestin Dubois, Thomas Leprohon, Angel Vizcaíno, Anya Nesvitaylo, Tatiana Lerebours, Sofía González, Sahra Maira, Kiara Flavin, Mai Kono, Carrigan MacDonald, Emma Garau Cima, Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya, Kiara DeNae Felder (day 27)
Felixovich Morante, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Oscar Lambert, Bernard Dubois II, Théodore Poubeau, Marcel Gutiérrez, Bernardo Betancor, François Gagné, Thomas Leprohon, Angel Vizcaíno, Tetyana Martyanova, Anaïs Roy, Maude Fleury, Calista Shepheard, Tuesday Rain Leduc, Aurora De Mori, Alexandra Eccles, Yui Sugawara, Rose Trahan (day 28)
First pas de quatre
Anya Nesvitaylo, Tatiana Lerebours, James Lyttle, Marcel Gutiérrez (day 27)
Anaïs Roy, Tetyana Martyanova, Felixovich Morante, Thomas Leprohon (day 28)
1st group men
Thomas Leprohon, Marcel Gutiérrez, Théodore Poubeau, Étienne Delorme, Angel Vizcaíno (day 27)
Thomas Leprohon, Marcel Gutiérrez, Théodore Poubeau, Oscar Lambert, Angel Vizcaíno (day 28)
2nd group men
Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Graeme Fuhrman, Bernard Dubois II, Célestin Boutin, James Lyttle (day 27)
Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Bernardo Betancor, Bernard Dubois II, François Gagné, Felixovich Morante (day 28)
Pas de six
James Lyttle, Thomas Leprohon, Étienne Delorme, Bernard Dubois II, Sofía González, Kiara Flavin (day 27)
Felixovich Morante, Thomas Leprohon, Oscar Lambert, Bernardo Betancor, Maude Fleury, Tuesday Rain Leduc (day 28)
Men on the floor
Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Angel Vizcaíno, Graeme Fuhrman, Marcel Gutiérrez, James Lyttle, Thomas Leprohon, Étienne Delorme, Célestin Boutin, Bernard Dubois II (day 27)
Bernard Dubois II, Théodore Poubeau, Bernardo Betancor, Marcel Gutiérrez, James Lyttle, Thomas Leprohon, Oscar Lambert, François Gagné, Antoine Benjamin Bertran (day 28)
Pas de quatre (knee)
Carrigan MacDonald, Mai Kono, Angel Vizcaíno, Antoine Benjamin Bertran (day 27)
Alexandra Eccles, Aurora De Mori, Théodore Poubeau, Bernard Dubois II (day 28)
Solo
Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya (day 27)
Yui Sugawara (day 28)
Pas de trois
Emma Garau Cima, Graeme Fuhrman, Célestin Boutin (day 27 and 28)
Women's duet
Sahra Maira, Kiara DeNae Felder (day 27)
Calista Shepheard, Rose Trahan (day 28)
Final men's duet
Bernard Dubois II, Théodore Poubeau (day 27)
François Gagné, Angel Vizcaíno (day 28)
Finale
Anya Nesvitaylo, Tatiana Lerebours, Sofía González, Sahra Maira, Kiara Flavin, Mai Kono, Carrigan MacDonald, Emma Garau Cima, Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya, Kiara DeNae Felder, James Lyttle, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Étienne Delorme, Bernard Dubois II, Bernardo Betancor, Marcel Gutiérrez, Graeme Fuhrman, Célestin Boutin, Thomas Leprohon, Théodore Poubeau (day 27)
Tetyana Martyanova, Anaïs Roy, Maude Fleury, Calista Shepheard, Tuesday Rain Leduc, Aurora De Mori, Alexandra Eccles, Yui Sugawara, Rose Trahan, Felixovich Morante, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Oscar Lambert, Bernard Dubois II, Angel Vizcaíno, Marcel Gutiérrez, Bernardo Betancor, James Lyttle, Thomas Leprohon, Théodore Poubeau (day 28)
Please note that the cast is subject to change up until the start of the performance.
Choreography: Mauro Bigonzetti
Training
A native of The Eternal City, Rome, Mauro Bigonzetti graduated from Rome’s Opera School and entered directly into the city’s company.
Career
In the season 1982-83, after having spent 10 years at Rome’s Opera, he joined Aterballetto, under the artistic direction of Amedeo Amodio, and performed all the choreographies of the company’s repertoire. The most significant collaborations of this period were the ones with Alvin Ailey, Glen Tetley, William Forsythe and Jennifer Muller. He also danced in many works by George Balanchine and Leonide Massine.
In 1990 he created his first work Sei in Movimento set to music by J.S. Bach, which made its debut at the Teatro Sociale in Grassina.
In the season 1992-93 he left Aterballetto and became a freelance choreographer. During this period, he began an intense collaboration with the Balletto di Toscana, a company in those years of many Italian choreographers.
The most important collaborations thereafterwere with the following international companies: English National Ballet London, Ballet National Marseille, Stuttgarter Ballett, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Dresden, Ballet Teatro Argentino, Balè da Cidade de Sao Paulo (Brazil), Ballet Gulbenkian Lisbon, New York City Ballet, State Ballet Ankara and Ballet du Capitole Toulouse. He also created ballets for many Italian companies including the Ballets of Teatro alla Scala Milan, Opera Rome, Arena Verona and Teatro San Carlo Naples.
In creating new works he collaborated with many artists such as Claudio Parmiggiani, Fabrizio Plessi, Bruno Moretti, Elvis Costello, Danilo Grassi, Guglielmo Capone, Millar & Swandale, Roberto Tirelli, Fabrizio Montecchi, Nicola Lusuardi, Paride Bonetta, Helena Medeiros, Paolo Calafiore, Carlo Cerri, Beni Montresor, Massimo Castri and Lucia Socci.
In 1997 he became Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer of Compagnia Aterballetto under the chairmanship of Federico Grilli with whom he collaborated to build a new repertoire and a new company. In 2016, he directed the ballet company of the Teatro alla Scala.
Repertoire
Bigonzetti’s most important works are Songs, Persephassa, Furia Corporis, Comoedia Canti, Sogno, Cantata, Rossini Cards, Vespro, Les Noces, Psappha, Orma and WAM, Romeo and Juliet and I Fratelli (last creation, 2006) and are represented in the major theaters around the world.
Recently, he staged several new important productions, among which King Lear with the Stuttgart Ballet and performed by Egon Madsen, and Madina, in Teatro alla Scala, performed by Roberto Bolle. His works have been performed by several dance companies among which the most important theatres in the world.
Les Grands Ballets acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and of the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec.