A show like “Migrants”, by Atacama Dance Company, proposes interesting ideas for reflection, and not just because the title itself declares a commitment to a social cause. Social commitment is frequent in theatre, though most of the time such frequency ends up in sterile rhetoric, which is doubtfully useful in terms of artistic results. The work by Atacama – historic Dance Company based in Rome – immediately strikes with its thorough immunity from rhetoric, especially thanks to the independency of body language as compared with the word.
On a stage with no scenery, in the darkness of a symbolic night, a glimpse of exhausted bodies can be caught. They are probably adrift on a imaginary inflatable raft. Hopeful souls intersect, hoping to land on a supposedly safe shore. Desperate clandestines almost seem to be involved in an ancient and terrible propitiatory rite, including deaths and painful sacrifices, with visions of apocalyptic misfortune, to reach a promise land that will inevitably impose new exploitation, tribalism and vexation.
Migrants is the new production by the Atacama Dance Company, which has been active for years in Italy and worldwide. This year, from June 23rd to 25th, on the stage of Tor Bella Monaca Theatre, the choreographers Patrizia Cavola and Ivan Truol have chosen to deal with a very frequently discussed topic of our times: migration and all social issues deriving from it. As the choreographers say, they have explored “the concept of mobility, internal and external movement of individuals and groups, directions and migration flows, free and forced displacements, and invasions.”
Walking through the thick wood on a path twisting among the fronds, and being heading for getting lost. Being alone before the darkness of that thick vegetation, maybe defenceless, and equipped with a double edged weapon: curiosity. Quivering with suspense and having the sensation of being chased by something lying in the shadow, ravenously following any odour left as a track. Being mired in imminent danger.
The show was performed at the Florian Espace Theatre in Pescara, within the CORPOGRAFIE 2016 festival. The work is about inner search, a journey through feminine stereotypes where we can find ourselves again in our body and with our body. Giada Marinucci described her emotions to Dansomanie as follows: The interpreter Valeria Baresi outlines the image of a woman in search of herself and continuously evolving. The meaningful work is expressed by the protagonist’s body through a dynamic and sometimes rather hysterical dance, which is both lyrical and powerful.
