CHOREOGRAPHY BY JOSE AGUDO Archives - ŻfinMalta https://www.zfinmalta.org/portfolio_page/portfolio-category/choreography-by-jose-agudo/ National Dance Company Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:54:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://cdn-eu.wpx.onl/zfinmalta/2020/04/cropped-ZFIN_FAVICON-32x32.png CHOREOGRAPHY BY JOSE AGUDO Archives - ŻfinMalta https://www.zfinmalta.org/portfolio_page/portfolio-category/choreography-by-jose-agudo/ 32 32 Selah https://www.zfinmalta.org/portfolio_page/selah/ Sat, 01 Mar 2025 10:19:39 +0000 https://www.zfinmalta.org/?post_type=portfolio_page&p=32765 The post Selah appeared first on ŻfinMalta.

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Dancers of ZfinMalta Dance Ensemble, Malta's newly-set up national dance company, perform in a dress rehearsal of the company's premiere
Dancers of ZfinMalta Dance Ensemble, Malta's newly-set up national dance company, perform in a dress rehearsal of the company's premiere
Dancers of ZfinMalta Dance Ensemble, Malta's newly-set up national dance company, perform in a dress rehearsal of the company's premiere
Selah Jose Agudo Photograph Joe Smith ŻfinMalta
Selah Jose Agudo Photograph Joe Smith

Photographs by Darrin Zammit-Lupi (1-3), and Joe Smith (4-5)

Selah

Choreography by Jose Agudo

Premiered as part of Erbgħa(4) 

 

 

Selah is a is a term that can be found both following passages in the bible, and in music, meaning the time to reflect, or the ‘silents in between.’ With a focus on ideas of religious rebellion, Selah is inspired by writings of Martin Luther, the German teacher and monk who brought about the protestant reformation in the 1500’s, and who talks about ‘removing all theatricality from the church,’ in order to ‘return to the purity of the Bible.’   

 

Selah is about the moment of rupture. It’s that moment when things change, the moment that we give pause to, to stop and listen. Inspired by the renaissance and the baroque, and heavily by the presence of religion in Malta, Jose Agudo presents ‘Selah,’ as part of ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble’s premiere season. 

 

 

Choosing the piece to open this highly anticipated event must not have been an easy task for Artistic Director Mavin Khoo. It had to draw in an audience which has been waiting for such an event to take place for years. The chosen piece, Selah, successfully achieved this and more.

Claire Caruana, The Sunday Times of Malta

Malta’s national contemporary dance company, ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble, will launch its first season with ERBGĦA(4) a premiere featuring four dances by four choreographers. The mixed bill will present distinctive works that demonstrate the versatility and diversity of the company within its Euro-Mediterranean context and sensibility. Newly commissioned works include ; ‘Selah’ by UK based Spanish choreographer Jose Agudo (new music by Vincenzo Lamagna), ‘Iż-Żmien’ by Maltese choreographer Francesca Tranter (music by Walter Micallef) and a company ensemble work by artistic director Mavin Khoo (performed to Stabat Mater by 18th century Maltese – Italian composer Girolamo Abos). The premiere concludes with a piece that is re-staged for the company, a duet, ‘Kick the Bucket’ by Dutch based Spanish choreographer Iván Pérez Avilés (music by Aaron Martin).  

 

 

 

Duration: 30 minutes

 

 

 

Production team
Choreography: Jose Agudo
Composer: Vincenzo Lamagna
Costume designer: Elisabeth Kinn Svensson
Lighting design: Moritz Zavan Stoeckle

 

 

 

 

Programmers and Agents

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]]> Carmen https://www.zfinmalta.org/portfolio_page/carmen/ Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:23:27 +0000 https://www.zfinmalta.org/?post_type=portfolio_page&p=32622 The post Carmen appeared first on ŻfinMalta.

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ŻfinMalta National Dance Company repertoire Carmen Jose Agudo
ŻfinMalta National Dance Company repertoire Carmen Jose Agudo
ŻfinMalta National Dance Company repertoire Carmen Jose Agudo
ŻfinMalta National Dance Company repertoire Carmen Jose Agudo
ŻfinMalta National Dance Company repertoire Carmen Jose Agudo

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
Programmers and Agents

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