We are officially living in strange and difficult times. And in the best way we humans know how, we will adapt and collectively find a way to get through. When we are forced to stop, we take stock to think about what is important in our lives and why. Along with the rest of the world, ŻfinMalta has pressed pause on its current activities to prioritise health. Instead, we are excited to launch a new project, Dance is us.

The letters making up our name are the starting point for the 9 themes that will be presented in the coming 9 weeks. The campaign will highlight the various ways in which dance features in our lives, reminding us that everyone has a relationship with movement, and everyone has an experience of dance. Dance is in us. Dance is us.

9 weeks, 9 letters, 9 themes

Ż fin

F uture

I sland

N urture

M ovement

A rt

L eadership

T heatre

A lliance

On Thursday 6th February at 18:30, ŻfinMalta & Heritage Malta invite Arthur Dumas for our third Movimento appointment at MUŻA

Movimento Appointment 3 : “Transposition: Transposing Life, Theatre & Dance”

Like every art form, theatre and dance get their inspiration from life. But how do artists model life as we know it to give it an artistic form? They transpose it.

Arthur Dumas tells us more …

Who are you (now)?

I am an actor, a performer and a theatre-maker based in France. I trained at at the Jacques Lecoq Theatre School in Paris, which specialises in mime and physical theatre.

What relationship have you had or do you hope to build with ŻfinMalta?

I have been coming to Malta regularly for 3 years as I form part of the theatre company Teatru Triptiku (directed by Jacob Piccinino), and we have already performed several physical theatre works here. From my first visit, I had the opportunity to discover and follow the work of the national dance company as a spectator. We had the opportunity to collaborate with the dancers of ZfinMalta and thus to meet through work. Last year, the artistic director of ZfinMalta, Paolo Mangiola, and his team invited me to participate in the first edition of Movimento. The experience was exciting and very joyful. I find that the initiative of this project opens a beautiful space for sharing and research between artists from all horizons and I am honoured to be part of it. My relationship with ZfinMalta is a conversation, a research space where the questions relating to the practice of an art are shared with everyone and a history which continues to be written (and which, I hope, will continue for a long time).

Tell us a story about you and dance.

Dance was the bridge that led me to become the artist that I am. I started acting from a very young age, falling in love immediately. I must have been 14 years old when I was advised to take dance lessons, in order to perfect my acting through my relationship with the body and space. So I started taking contemporary dance lessons which opened up a whole new world to me, a world in which I found a freedom that I did not know with theatre. But, still, theatre held a special place in my heart… So I kept dancing, and I kept acting. Until the desire and the « quest » for a common place between dance and theatre led me to physical theatre. There I discovered an approach and concrete tools that allowed me to reveal the artist that I am and allow me to explore areas – on stage – that bring together what seems to me unique in dance and in the theatre. And I think what unites them is movement, in its widest sense.

How would you describe your relationship to movement (if you have one at all)?

Relating to my answer in the previous question … everything moves! Movement is life. Bodies move and react to everything, to the environment, to others, to thoughts, to emotions …

I have become a great observer of movement – of movements. I try to stage them to produce something that everyone can recognise through them: life as we know it.

What are you planning to present on the 6th February at MUŻA as part of Movimento?

We will see how movement allows us to translate life as it is on stage.

I call this process “transposition“.

We will see, through 5 steps common to dance and theatre, how to make life is presented on stage, and open our poetic and sensitive look on art. The form of this masterclass is intended to be fun and educational. I’m sure we will have a great time together!

Which three gestures/movements/action verbs do you think will encapsulate this event?

Pull / Push / Support

It might sound mysterious but join me on the 6th February @MUŻA and it will make sense!

Reserve your Movimento session here!

On January 9th at 18:30, ŻfinMalta & Heritage Malta invite Dr. Scott deLahunta for our second Movimento appointment.

Movimento Appointment 2 : “Dance Documentation : Moving Stories”

Scott deLaHunta on the Archiving, Documenting & Translating of contemporary dance practices

Who are you (now)?

I am currently a Professor of Dance at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University, UK and co-director of the Motion Bank project based at the Hochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

What relationship have you had or do you hope to build with ŻfinMalta?

The artistic director of ZfinMalta, Paolo Mangiola and I met first when he was working with Wayne McGregor in Random Dance in the early 2000s. Paolo took part in some of the first experiments we did with cognitive psychologists looking at how Wayne and his dancers use imagery in movement creation. It has been wonderful to see Paolo developing his own artistic work and career after this. And it is a pleasure to be able to work with him again and Zfinmalta in the context of the new creative commission for Rosemary Lee titled Threaded Fine.

Tell us a story about you and dance.

I began to train in dance and choreography in the 1980s at University. I was coming from more of a sports background and had never thought about movement being the source and material for an artistic work. I was immediately inspired and for about 10 years I performed and made my own artistic work. I was always interested in collaborations with other artists, for example filmmakers and sculptors, and extremely interested in understanding more about the creative process: in learning more about how an artistic work gets made and communicating this to others. Starting in the early 1990s I began to shift from being an artist to being a researcher, still interested primarily in studying creative process in dance and sharing what I discover there with others.

How would you describe your relationship to movement (if you have one at all)?

My relationship to movement is that through movement we come to understand the world we live in through our body and mind connection. Movement includes for me touch and gesture as well as the concept of embodied knowledge. When I think of embodied knowledge, I think of the kind of knowing that emerges through doing and making things, like dances. It is also the knowledge we have that comes from being in constant relationship not only with other people and things, but also with our environment. So movement to me means embodied knowledge and a way of being in the world through sensing and feeling, through experience, which I think needs to be more acknowledged today than ever.

What are you planning to present on the 9th January at MUŻA as part of Movimento?

On 9 January as part of Movimento, my plan is to present and talk about the “Threaded Fine Documentation Project” which is a collaboration between C-DaRE, Motion Bank and ŻfinMalta with the support of the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta. Threaded Fine is a new durational multigenerational work created by choreographer Rosemary Lee. My role in this is to document the creation of this work using methods and tools developed over the last several years within the Motion Bank working on similar projects with choreographers such as William Forsythe and Deborah Hay. I will also present some of this background with the goal of sharing what keeps me continuously interested in and excited about contemporary dance practice.

Which three gestures/movements/action verbs do you think will encapsulate this event?

Opening up and sharing the experience of dance creation

The Costume Designer’s take on his Voyager experience

The Voyager costumes were designed by couturier Luke Azzopardi – a young and upcoming local designer who has become the talk of the town, particularly more so after dressing X-Factor Malta’s judge Alexandra Alden for the television programme’s live shows in January 2019.

Luke Azzopardi studied at Central Saint Martins in London and at the University of Malta, after which he proceeded to launch his self-titled brand. The Luke Azzopardi Studio focuses on the idea of timeless elegance and reflects a sense of a researched and applied aesthetic stemming from the director’s academic background in fashion & costume history. Its mission is to push artisanal design as a self-sustainable local industry through concept-based fashion that embraces beauty, individuality and style.

Luke Azzopardi has designed for a number of theatrical productions including Teatru Manoel’s ‘Orphee et Eurydice’, Naupaca Dance Factory’s ‘Divina’ (La Divina Commedia) and Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci’s ‘Carmen’.

In 2018, Luke Azzopardi also launched collections in 2 awe-inspiring fashion presentations, On the Museum’s Ruins, and On the Opera’s Ruins. These presentations were a full-fledged elite artistic experience, from the choice of venues, to the ambience that was created, the artistic concept, music, and of course the designs.

What inspired the design for the costumes of Voyager?

Paolo Mangiola had a very clear idea of where he wanted to take the production artistically. His idea of feeding off the NASA golden records led me to create a look firmly rooted in 1970s futurism, which was an aesthetic highly present in both sci-fi cinema and pop culture.

Can you tell us about the creative process involved in creating these costumes?

I was designing specifically for the dancers. Each costume was entirely produced with the wearer in mind. This was my third production with ŻfinMalta, and this meant that I knew some of the dancers quite well. Naturally, this aided the design process.

Carmen is a well-known tale whilst Voyager is a completely abstract creation that was formed from Paolo Mangiola’s imagination. Was it more difficult to create something that the audience would already have certain expectations for, or to bring to life an artist’s vision as was the case for Voyager?

Carmen was a production that lent itself easily to the brand because the studio finds its roots in classical theatre, particularly opera. Having said that, it was particularly intriguing to have the studio depart from its usual preferentiality towards costume history (and its deconstruction) towards a grand narrative created by the artists involved.

What was the collaboration process with Paolo Mangiola like?

My admiration towards Paolo and his work is no longer a secret. I find his methodology and story-telling compelling and inspiring. He placed a lot of trust in me and my unorthodox choice of fabrics and I believe that the end result is rather memorable.

What materials did you use?

A mixture of silk, crepe satin and hand beaded Chantilly lace in cell-like motifs.

Your last fashion show On the Opera’s Ruins was done on the stage of the majestic Teatru Aurora, our dancers will be taking that stage for the first time on 27th April. What should they expect from this beautiful theatre?

It-Teatru tal-Opra Aurora is a beautiful mid-century gem that is slowly becoming a hub for the alternative art scene. While my studio managed to introduce it to a new kind of audience with our last fashion presentation, I was thrilled to find out that ŻfinMalta have included it in their tour – a decision which will surely help the opera house gain even more momentum. I’m personally very keen on seeing Voyager performed on such a big stage in contrast with the restricted dimensions of the Manoel Theatre – the negative space on stage will definitely lend itself well to the production.

What does Luke Azzopardi Studio have in store for 2019?

For 2019 the Luke Azzopardi studio is going international by working with ANCC studios for its creative strategy, applying its couture methodology to a wide range of design related products. The studio is also working on a number of other curatorial and print projects aside from planning two launch two fashion collections this year.

Following a successful world premiere of Paolo Mangiola’s Voyager last November, ŻfinMalta will now be taking its full-length creation to different theatres around the Maltese islands.

Forty-one years ago, American astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan came up with the idea of sending a time capsule into outer space that would give intelligent life a snapshot of Earth’s diversity, sounds, feelings and thoughts through 116 images encoded in analog form.

Launched on the Voyager Spacecrafts in 1977, the Golden Records, plated with gold and sealed in aluminum cases, were expected to remain intelligible for more than a billion years, making them the longest-lasting objects ever crafted by human hands.

Fascinated by Sagan’s work, ŻfinMalta’s artistic director and choreographer Paolo Mangiola got wondering what NASA would send into outer space were it to repeat the same exercise today. How would we represent our past, our present, and our hopes for the future? What would the elements archived in it look like? How would we select them?

In November 2018, around the time that ŻfinMalta premiered Voyager, NASA’s Voyager 2 probe exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun, making this performance all the more relevant.

A full Maltese team, including visual artist Austin Camilleri, composer Veronique Vella and designer Luke Azzopardi collaborated with Mangiola to create an experience that propels its audience into a world of introspection, self-discovery and reflection on the way human beings are treating this fragile pale blue dot.

ŻfinMalta – National Dance Company will launch its National Tour at St. Agatha Theatre in Rabat, on the 13th of April. This performance will precede the second leg of the tour which will take the company dancers to Teatru Aurora in Gozo, on the 27th of April. The company will close off the National Tour with its third performance in Malta’s Capital City, Valletta, with a performance at Pjazza Teatru Rjal on the 3rd of May.

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES IN CAPTURING PAOLO’S VISION FOR VOYAGER?

This was the first time Paolo and I collaborated together. Working on any project where more than one art form is involved is always an exciting, albeit tricky venture. The biggest challenge was perhaps attempting to reflect / complement Paolo’s ambitious, literally larger-than-life concept with interesting sounds. Paolo was thorough in his research and gave me several musical references to look into. Another challenge was to try to move away from an anthropocentric representation of Earth (one of the pitfalls perhaps, of the compilation of the Golden Record), while writing a soundscape that would reflect the process of this journey from Earth into this enormous alien world without resorting to too many musical cliches.

 

WHAT DID YOU USE AS AN INSPIRATION FOR THE INTERSTELLAR SOUNDS?

In recent years there’s been a resurgence of films and TV shows that have tried to somehow capture alien sounds and beings / parallel worlds, such as Stranger Things, Interstellar, and Annihilation to name a few. I experimented with synths and tried to layer sounds in a way that attempts to capture the vastness; the ‘otherness’. Another point of inspiration was Carl Sagan’s book Pale Blue Dot, which offers a humbling account of how microscopic Earth is.

 

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT MARRYING CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC WITH ELECTRONIC SOUNDS?

Perhaps ‘coexist’ is a better term. I used melody as a common ground for both, although this is perhaps clearer in the acoustic tracks. Luckily, all the musicians I wanted to work with were very happy to participate in the project. The musicians on the acoustic tracks are Godfrey Mifsud on bass clarinet, Akos Kertesz on cello, Rachel Fabri on vocals and myself on piano. Rene Mamo was our sound engineer/producer. The two components, acoustic and electronic, as well as the use of found sounds, tend to alternate and fade in and out of each other.

However, all these elements remain quite distinct. I suppose, in very simplistic terms, the acoustic tracks typically attempt to be ‘earthly’ representations, in the sense that they are more melodic and structured. The electronic tracks are perhaps used to complement what I think we know about space and the beyond so these tend to evoke a darker, more ominous place.

 

IF YOU HAD TO SEND UP ONE SOUND INTO SPACE TODAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Maybe the sound of a baby chuckling and laughing, I mean, a really good, infectious laugh; one you cannot resist. I’m not sure Paolo would concur because it’s too anthropocentric.

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES IN CAPTURING PAOLO’S VISION FOR VOYAGER?

This was more of a collaboration rather than a visual translation of someone else’s ideas. In fact, we spent over a year researching and discussing options to come up with a strong fluid concept. I had to get accustomed to the ways, times and processes of dance. Paolo structures codes and images in his head as he creates a choreography which is then tested on stage. It’s very similar to the way I work: a method that involves a discovery- based, lived-experience research process. I’m interested in translating process into an actual embodiment of an artwork. However, a collaboration is never linear, and there were times when things didn’t seem to progress. Eventually, when you are about to abandon a certain line of thought, you pursue a little bit more — that’s when the magic happens.

 

HOW IS THIS PRODUCTION DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER UNDERTAKING?

As with any collaboration, a lot of variables come into play. Since Voyager was a completely new creation, it kept evolving right till the end. Our point of convergence, was not to catalogue images or sounds corresponding to those originally sent on the space probe in 1977. Rather than human constructs, I was more intrigued in exploring the residue of human action. My main concern was to find a balance between visuals and movement; a map of pressures and tensions, where there is no friction between disciplines.

 

WHAT INSPIRED YOUR VISION FOR THE STAGE?

My aim was to produce something that is both an extension of the concept and a living element in itself. Light and time are the main visual components in my exercise, exploring the possibilities of defining a space from a transitional one to a performative one. So I looked into the idea of a sundial: a device to scan time, the duration of the performance, and blurs and interconnects boundaries within the structure of the choreography. I am also using a logarithmic rule, the Fibonacci sequence, to define spatial proportions on stage. This rule is a reference to a natural order, found in seeds, shells, hurricanes, spiral galaxies, even our own DNA. Following this rhythm, I’m introducing an object that is both a direct reference to something within our own nature — an organic image ingrained in past consciousness — and something alien, projected to the future.

 

IF YOU HAD TO SEND A CAPSULE INTO SPACE TODAY WHAT WOULD YOU INCLUDE?

If we could synthesise emotions, I would send Joy.

WHAT INSPIRED VOYAGER?

I grew up in the 1980s, at a time when space exploration was on everyone’s mind and science fiction, already an established genre, provided us kids with inspiring and mysterious futures we could get lost in. I was, and still am, fascinated with the universe, and the idea of creating a work based on NASA’s Voyager space probe, its achievements and the ambitious Golden Record – a form of time capsule – became a matter of urgency. Movement and dance can communicate in a way that goes beyond linear compression and words, and I felt this complex topic deserved to be explored through choreography. Movement is ancient; it connects us on a primal level. From hunting and gathering, to dancing around the fire, walking, and climbing, these are all actions which define us as inhabitants on this planet and connect us with the rest of the creatures in it. So I thought why not use movement to present such a beautiful and mysterious topic.

 

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES OF INTERPRETING THE CHOREOGRAPHY TO FIT THE CONCEPT?

Anything can be danced and choreographed. It’s not about translating or interpreting a concept, but rather using the idea as fertile ground for research that taps into something deeper, uncovers the novelty and eventually moves audiences. The challenge is offering a multi-layered work; a landscape of possibilities we can all reflect on. I like to think that dance can provide a void we can all get sucked into, which shuts down our analytical mind, and leads us to a different level of understanding. In Voyager I wanted to present not just the scientific discoveries these two space probes achieved, but also the Golden Record that was sent as a present from planet Earth. This time capsule, which was an inspiring topic to dive into, was intended to communicate the complexity of life on our planet to possible intelligent life forms.

 

HOW WAS THE PIECE DEVELOPED FOR STAGE?

The piece follows a clear journey, which is ‘readable’ from two distinctive and different perspectives, interdependent from one another. One is the journey of the two Voyagers, from the construction, to the collection of data from different planets, right to the moment when the probes leave the solar system and enter interstellar space. The other journey follows a chronological selection of the images, sounds and items sent through the Golden Record. These two journeys have created the entire structure of Voyager and the dancers navigate through these motions with the scope of communicating, thinking, transmitting, curating and exploring. On stage their bodies have multiple functions operating through an interdependent system, becoming the landscapes they explore.

 

WHAT MAKES THIS PIECE RELEVANT TO OUR PRESENT LIFE?

This is a piece about human endeavour and the urgency to know ourselves more. It is about our planet and the way we are treating it. It is about curating the best of ourselves and leaving behind what is harmful to life. It is a work about us in our time; not us as a species, but us as living creatures amongst all the life forms on planet earth. At a time when we are becoming increasingly aware of our role as inhabitants of this planet — the little pale blue dot, as astronomer Carl Sagan called it – Voyager aims to take us to a space where we can reflect on our choices and actions. I believe all of this to be relevant, as ultimately the piece aspires to offer a platform for contemplation on the preciousness of life and how complex and unique it is.

ŻFINMALTA’S VOYAGER: AN INTROSPECTIVE JOURNEY

Forty-one years ago, American astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan came up with the idea of sending a time capsule into outer space that would give intelligent life a snapshot of Earth’s diversity, sounds, feelings and thoughts through 116 images encoded in analog form. Launched on the Voyager Spacecraft in 1977, the Golden Record, plated with gold and sealed in aluminium cases, was expected to remain intelligible for more than a billion years, making them the longest-lasting objects ever crafted by human hands.

During the launch, UN secretary general Kurt Waldheim sent greetings on behalf of the people on this planet, saying: “We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.”

Fascinated by Sagan’s work, ŻfinMalta National Dance Company’s artistic director Paolo Mangiola, got wondering what NASA would send into outer space were it to repeat the same exercise today.

How would we represent our past, our present, and our hopes for the future? What would the elements archived in it look like? How would we select them? In short, what would a Golden Record look like if propelled to another planet in 2019?

As a young boy, Mangiola was always captivated by this Golden Record and Voyager’s discoveries of our solar system, the space probes carried out and the data collected. His interest was further piqued when on February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 captured the timeless portrait of Earth as a small stage in a vast cosmic arena; a pale blue dot in an enveloping darkness.

In his 1994 book The Pale Blue Dot, Sagan had eloquently urged us all to look at that photograph and really immerse ourselves in it: “That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives … There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.”

This pale blue dot is what inspired ŻfinMalta’s Voyager, a joint collaboration between Maltese-born visual artist Austin Camilleri, accompanied by the work of composer Veronique Vella, and with costumes designed by Luke Azzopardi. Voyager is the culmination of a year of research and interviews that promises to propel its audience into a world of introspection, self-discovery and reflection on the way human beings are treating this fragile pale blue dot.

“SOMEWHERE, SOMETHING INCREDIBLE IS WAITING TO BE KNOWN”

CARL SAGAN