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Mauro Bigonzetti


Estelle

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The Biennale de la Danse of Lyon will start in a few days, and, as I have recently moved to Lyon, I'm trying to know a bit more about what will be shown. Unfortunately for me, nearly all the works of that festival are modern dance, but I'm wondering about a few of them. And among them, there is a triple bill of works by Mauro Bigonzetti by the Aterballetto company. I know the Aterballetto is a company of ballet-trained dancers, but know very little about Bigonzetti. I vaguely remember seeing something by him once several years ago, and it had looked to me like a kind of sub-Forsythe...

Are there some people here who could tell me a bit more about his style ? The three works of the program are "Vespro", created for NYCB, a work on Stravinsky's "Les Noces" and another called "Cantata".

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Well, I hated VESPRO...for what it's worth. I thought it made some excellent dancers, including Benj. Millepied & Alexandra Ansanelli, look ugly. The music was not bad, notably the use of a counter-tenor and a soprano saxophone. But when Benjamin started jumping on and off the grand piano I simply lost interest.

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Among other things, Bigonzetti has choreographed a one-act "Midsummer Night's Dream" to music of Elvis Costello. (He's also choreographed a work to Jimi Hendrix.) The Bigonzetti "Coppelia" retains the Delibes score -- but the plot is described as "the story of a poet called Nathanel who is urged by mystical and obsessive love that disappears at the moment he is about to grasp it." Sounds Balanchinean to me.

As for "Vespro," the only ballet of his I've actually seen, I rather enjoyed it. Without being aerobic, there's not a dull moment in it, and the music, by Bruno Moretti, a frequent collaborator, is gorgeous -- particularly the long soprano sax solo near the end. If I had to choose between seeing another work by Bigonzetti and one by Angelin Preljocaj, that other member of the European "avant-garde" with an NYCB imprimatur, I'd take Bigonzetti.

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The Bigonzetti "Coppelia" retains the Delibes score --  but the plot is described as "the story of a poet called Nathanel who is urged by mystical and obsessive love that disappears at the moment he is about to grasp it." Sounds Balanchinean to me.

The Estonian National Ballet dances the Bigonzetti version of Coppelia. It is very modern and quite strange. My daughter was learning it last year as a corps member (but didn't get to dance it) and she did not like it at all, since she is a very classical dancer. Many of the company members love it and some say it's their favorite ballet to dance. One of the female principals stated so in a TV interview earlier this year. The ballet has angular, jerky movements and some very unballet-like combinations of steps. It feels strange to be seeing it, my daughter says, danced to the familiar Delibes score.

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