IGNIS

Liliana Barros

21st, 22nd, 23rd, 28th February

In IGNIS (Latin for fire) we are plunged into a world of deep arousal. Portuguese choreographer Liliana Barros uses the relationship of cause and response to ignite deep energies and channel profound emotions.

What is the drive behind your work? 

Experiencing through physicality has actually been the basic motor and drive behind ‘IGNIS,’ because I really wanted to resort to those energies, those engines where we start creating and generating movement from.

This is a component that I use each time I’m creating work. I like to resort from an energetic state in order to express, deconstruct, push to extremes, forming and moulding the body into multiple directions. Of course, with a bigger company, with a a bigger group of dancers, you can start building all these layers so that it becomes a puzzle of explosions, and very much so in IGNIS.

What can audiences expect from IGNIS?

IGNIS will be energetic, highly physical, explosive. Actually, the importance would be, for me, that the audience comes without expectations, but just come and experience this ephemeral time, and experience dance. Hopefully you’ll connect to the work, and the feelings will transport you. That’s my wish. I wish to take the audience on that journey together, so if they can experience something new, or the work touches something, or they  identify with some aspect of it I would be very happy. 

Somiglianza

(Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune)

Antonio De Rosa and Mattia Russo – Kor’sia

21st, 22nd, 23rd February & 1st, 2nd March

Somiglianza takes reference from Nijinsky’s 1912 work, ‘L’après-midi d’un faune,’ and by reinterpreting these references with an ironic and sensual approach, Kor’sia have succeeded in  ‘reinventing the narrative, to bring it closer to a contemporary audience.’ 

Tell us about ‘Somiglianza’

The work is based on Nijinsky’s ‘The afternoon of a faun,’ and heavily references that, using Debussy’s score for the work, the libretto, and even the imagery that Nijinsky himself originally took from Greek paintings. Our version is more relevant to a contemporary audience, and we wanted to comment on our freedom to love within today’s society. It’s ironic, animalistic, and sensual.

How did you approach restaging ‘Somiglianza’ for Żfinmalta?

We originally made this work with Kor’sia in Madrid, but wanted to readapt and extend it slightly with the company here in Malta, giving it a new life. We worked very closely in collaboration with the dancers of the company to achieve this, inviting them to enter into our movement style. It was great to work with them; they are curious, and hungry to learn.

We also let this place inspire us and influence the creation, as we are making this work in a city where the sea is right there. In the previous production of Somiglianza we had introduced the idea of swimming, but in this version we were far more direct, so the dancers are very obviously inside a ‘swimming world,’ with costumes, caps, and goggles.

In Nijinsky’s original work, he used a poem by Mallarmé, who actually writes about the coast of Sicily, so really, this faun is very close to Malta, and I like to think that it relates a lot to where we are now to create this work.

And the others, one day we played outside for the last time

Simon Riccardi-Zani

28th February & 1st, 2nd March

The third and final instalment in a collection of works, which began with ŻfinMalta in 2022, Simon Riccardi-Zani’s new work for ŻfinDays invites the full company on stage into his cinematic vision.

Why ‘and the others’? 

Why ‘and the others?’ because we are meeting our previous protagonists once again, but this time, including more people; it’s a larger work for the full company. The idea behind the work is games, played by a group of people that don’t seem to understand that they are in the adult world. These ideas of childhood memories feature again, but these are more adult games, golf and green fields, places that are reminiscent of some kind of adult playground. 

How do you approach choreography?

My way of seeing dance at the moment, as a young choreographer, is always through the lens of a camera, with a cinematic approach. I always compose scenes whilst trying to imagine them as a movie, so obviously transferring that to the stage brought different challenges. What I propose to the dancers is a very specific way of choreographing actions. It’s a very set way of interacting with other people. I like to choreograph all these small pedestrian gestures, and figure out how the pedestrian becomes the dance itself, as well as how the poetry can enter the dance.

I create my work as a puzzle, where information can be collected somewhere, and then it’s found somewhere else, and slowly, bit by bit, a sort of puzzle emerges. There is an atmosphere of ‘Cluedo;’ these characters are completely detached from their environment. They aren’t sure if they are playing, performing, acting, what day it is…and they would love to think they are each special and unique, but in reality they are all the same character.