Carmen

Carmen

“People will identify themselves with Carmen, they’re going to live it from inside out, because it is wild, it goes straight to the point, straight to the feelings: it is about life and death, about living the moment and about freedom.”

ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble, the National Dance Company of Malta, under its new artistic director, Paolo Mangiola, presents the company’s new upcoming production, Carmen, choreographed by the Spanish-born artist Jose Agudo and set to an original music score by Bernhard Schimpelsberger.

 

Award-winning choreographer, Jose Agudo, ŻMDE Associate Artist, presents a contemporary dance adaption of the original story of Carmen: the rebellious and beautiful protagonist of the novel by Prosper Mérimée (1845), immortalized by Georges Bizet’s lyric opera (1875), now lives once again in this new creation that focuses on her free nature and on the high price of this freedom. “I chose Carmen because I thought it was a beautiful story and because I grew up with a friend of mine who reminded me of her,” says Agudo, “but the real moment when I fell in love with Carmen was when I met the dramaturg, Denise Mulholland. She talked about Carmen as a friend; she told me who this woman was when she said: ‘Carmen will always be free’. That is when I thought about who Carmen really is: she is a gypsy, a Romany, a traveler, an untamed spirit, she is captivating and elusive, unfathomable and almost from another world. But despite all this she is earthy and grounded and fiercely alive.”

Premiere: 16th & 17th February 2018, Catholic Institute Theatre, Floriana

Choreographer: Jose Agudo
Original Score: Bernhard Schimpelsberger
Costumes: Luke Azzopardi
Fabric: Camilleri Paris Mode