ŻfinDays is an annual programme of short works by choreographers who are currently in the spotlight on the international dance stage. Introduced in 2019 by ŻfinMalta’s Artistic Director Paolo Mangiola, this evening of short works has become one of the company’s annual signature programmes, exposing ŻfinMalta’s company dancers, and its audiences, to the extraordinary diversity of talent on the European choreographic scene.
ŻfinDays 2022 is a double bill featuring two award-winning choreographers who have been hard at work in the ZfinMalta studios with the company’s ten full time dancers. First up is Ochre, a new commission by the London-based, Greek artist Georgia Tegou, followed by a restagisng of How to Destroy Your Dance, by Italian artist Francesca Pennini and her collective, CollettivO CineticO.
I am thrilled to bring these two unique authors to Malta, due in no small part to the trust given by ŻfinMalta’s loyal audiences who embarked on this journey with us just a few years back. Before that, it would not have been possible to programme this work. It is a great achievement for the company and our supporters.
Paolo Mangiola, Artistic Director
Ochre, Georgia Tegou (Athens/London)
Ochre is a new work traversing history and memory, ancient wisdom, and mysticism. It is an ode to the Venus of Malta and the catacombs in which she was found, and an attempt to unveil the mystery surrounding her ascension to light. The work follows the Sleeping Lady’s journey from the moment she was unearthed, taken from her underground home, put through the conservation process, and finally placed on display in a dark gallery on her own. It traces the steps of a female figure coming to life, leading us through her movement in a transitory, in-between space. Ochre comes together with set and costume design by Andrew Borg Wirth, and an original score by Liran Donin.
Georgia Tegou approaches dance as design, blurring the boundaries of dance and movement with other visual and spatial arts including architecture, sculpture, fashion, and visual art. Her work has been presented by Onassis Stegi, Dance Umbrella Festival, and The Whitechapel Gallery, among others, and she has choreographed two music videos for Róisín Murphy.
Beings reminiscent of the fantasy universes that exist in the films of Guillermo del Toro…
It challenges audiences to dive into their own fantasies, and to extricate themselves from the logic of needing to give specific meanings to everything they experience.
Maria MantoukouOfficial Onassis Stegi New Choreographers Festival Review
How to destroy your dance, Francesca Pennini/CollettivO CineticO (Italy)
Francesca Pennini’s How to destroy your dance is firmly rooted in the present. Both a choreography and a game, it sets out to explore the limits of the body and create a handbook for the boycott of every choreographic decorum, through impossible acceleration and extreme slow-motion. How long is one minute? What are the limits of the body? How to destroy your dance is a challenge against time with pulp tones and ludic taste, highlighted through the costumes of Holly Knowles.
ColletivO CineticO is an experimental, performing arts group whose work crosses genders and codes, bends the rules of the performative event, challenges the relationship with audiences, and occupies the interstices between dance, theatre, and the visual arts.
Creations by CollettivO CineticO [...] are able to unsettle audiences, singling them out with bold and exhilarating poetry – natural body gestures as well as the established grammar of choreography.
Prize of the National Association of Critics 2016
How to destroy your dance is supported by the Italian Cultural Institute of Valletta.
ŻfinMalta is proudly supported by VBL Group.
Dates and time: February 18, 19, 20, 2022, 8pm
Venue: Valletta Campus Theatre
Bookings: https://www.visitmalta.com/en/events-in-malta-and-gozo/event/zfin-days-double-bill/
Duration: One hour Age: 5+