“Partita”, Stephen Shopshire’s third creation, for São Paulo Dance Company, is inspired by the painting of the Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel (1525-1569) “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” (1555), in dialogue with the homonymous poem written in 1939 by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). With a minimalist costume, the dancer explores the stage and rewrite each letter of the poet's verses in dialogue with the gestures of the other performers. A dancer, in the corner of the scene, spells out the full text in the air, which gains even more power with each danced phrase. Under the contemporary movements of “Partita, Perihelion”, by Margaret Schedel and Mikylah Myers McTeer, instruments such as flute and violin are mixed with electronic sounds. “Partita” instigates the audience to perceive the piece and sensations of what is seen in their own body. An “abstract and challenging piece, with normal people doing extraordinary things”, reveals the choreographer.

to the top