THE WHALES SONG

by Chiara Bersani
call residency
dance Matteo Ramponi
music F. De Isabella
light design Valeria Foti
technical direct Paolo Tizianel
dramaturgical consultancy Marco D’Agostin
coach Marta Ciappina
styling Greta Rizzi
mentoring Alessandro Sciarroni
video Alice Brazzit
production Associazione Culturale Corpoceleste_C.C.00#
with Kunstencentrum Vooruit (Gent, BE), Santarcangelo Festival, Armunia/Festival Inequilibrio
and with CSC – Centro per la Scena Contemporanea (Bassano del Grappa), Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo – Circuito Regionale Multidisciplinare, Lavanderia a Vapore
in dialogue with Boulevard Theater Festival
with the support of Centrale Fies, Versiliadanze

We want the moon. If I had to tell how I feel now, as I try to organise my thoughts into a short speech, what comes to mind is astronauts approaching the moon, or at least how I imagine them in that moment: confused, euphoric and a bit lonely. They know that few other men have come before them to that satellite. They know they are an exception because the norm states that bodies like theirs should remain on the earth, and on the earth to walk and live. Astronauts walking on the moon is only possible because of the people who imagined them there, and those who worked collectively to bring the imaginary into reality. When the astronauts landed on the moon they raised a flag: to mark the conquest of the furthest point in the universe reached by man. I would also like to place a flag here, but not to fix a point of arrival or to make a territorial claim. Instead, I propose a reinterpretation of this gesture as an acceptance of responsibility on behalf of the Italian theatre: a responsibility towards those bodies which, in terms of form, identity, belonging, origin and gender, struggle to find a space in which their voices resonate. (Chiara Bersani, taken from the acceptance speech at Ubu Awards as best Italian actress under 35).

Chiara Bersani, performer and author bearing a poetic thought on the political body, will be in residency in Lavanderia a Vapore to rehearse her new creation, THE WALES SONG. Matteo Ramponi is an Italian performer known for his ability to become invisible: placed within a chorus, he becomes a skeleton, a structure. He disappears between the other bodies while still dictating the movement. I have seen him perform this magic in many settings and I decided that in this work his being a skilful centre of gravity amongst the crowds should be proclaimed. On stage, Matteo will have 30 minutes alone to perform magic: to transform the audience from conglomerate to group, from group to chorus. From audience to performer. His ability to vanish will be the centre of the entire creation and its goal will be to bring every participant in the work to choose to be there and become part of a collective rite, aware that it is a call; a declaration of presence; a funeral lament; a bridal ballad; a song of recall; a choice of welcome; the whale song.