The national dance company ŻfinMalta has announced a packed programme of productions, education and participation initiatives under the direction of artistic director Paolo Mangiola as part of their new 2023/24 season.
The programme also marks the beginning of ŻfinMalta’s journey towards its ten-year anniversary.
The season begins with Aerial, Mangiola’s new choreography for Notte Bianca this month. It features a collaboration with the pianist Tricia Dawn Williams in a dialogue between dance and music from an aerial perspective.
In December, ŻfinMalta presents its first Christmas production, with direction and original music performed live by The New Victorians and choreography by Adriano Bolognino. This will involve a dance-theatre adaptation of the Christmas book Ħolm tal-Milied? by Trevor Zahra, juxtaposing classic Maltese traditions with a contemporary musical score and aesthetic.
Kicking off 2024 is ŻfinDays, an annual double-bill featuring two short works. The first is Cantata by Mauro Bigonzetti, one of Italy’s pre-eminent dancers and choreographers, and features a festive homage to Italian culture and to its musical tradition, from lullabies to the pizziche of Salento, with a nod to Neapolitan serenades.
The second is Aringa Rossa .10 by Ambra Senatore, director of the National Choreographic Center in Nantes. This uses clues, games with changing rules and fragmented scenes in an encounter with the dancers who eventually take over the choreography.
Returning in March and presented as part of maltabiennale.art 2024 is Intimate Żfin – a series of choreographic miniatures created by Mangiola and performed with Alexandra Alden and her band live at the Grand Salon of the archaeological museum in Valletta.
Alongside the perfornaces slated for the 2023/24 season is a line-up of education and participation programmes and online activities
April sees the return of Dances for Gozo, commissioned by the Ministry for Gozo. This double–bill at the Aurora Theatre features Cantata by Mauro Bigonzetti and Flesh and Stone by Canadian choreographer Lesley Telford.
Telford explores the echo and enormity of the influence of our mothers through her fascination with the myths of the Ġgantija giants of our past, imagining how the power of those who came before us may seem super-human.
In May, ŻfinMalta joins forces with Ballet D’Jerri, the national dance company of Jersey Island, in Geographers of Solitude by Mangiola. Twenty dancers come together to explore what unites the two islands through distinctive geographical and cultural landscapes, and one extraordinary migratory bird, the Arctic Tern.
The final production in the ŻfinMalta season will be Voices at the End – a double-bill by Mangiola presented as part of the Malta International Arts Festival.
The new season features several local creatives, including dramaturg Victor Jacono, paper artist James Dimech, musical artists Tricia Dawn Williams, The New Victorians and Alexandra Aldren, costume designers Louie Noir and Laurent Uyttersprot, set designer Anna Horvath, light designer Dali Aguerbi and composer Ruben Zahra.
Alongside the perfornaces slated for the 2023/24 season is a line-up of education and participation programmes and online activities.
The annual Movimento and the Artist in Residence programme continue to demystify contemporary dance and provide a space for the exploration of ideas and new work and a number of open rehearsals take audiences behind the scenes during the creation process.
For more information about ŻfinMalta’s 2023/24 season, visit zfinmalta.org.