It all started when the baroque music ensemble L’Arpegiatta commissioned the two choreographers to devise a dance for a concert centred on Orfeo and Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. Their piece featured two dancers, 13 musicians and six singers, and premiered in Budapest in March 2022.
That wasn’t the end of it though. Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres Guerrero decided to explore the subject further. Starting with these two works by Monteverdi and the mythical couples in them – Orpheus & Eurydice and Tancred & Clorinda – a field of exploration opened up. Where does the blindness come from that leads to such an irreparable act?
The couple in Blind Loves will be accompanied by a soprano, a tenor and two accordionists: a novel musical approach that, imbued by these quintessential baroque pieces, takes them to a wider audience thanks to the involvement of an instrument with popular connotations.
Création 2024 / Concept : Koen Augustijnen & Rosalba Torres Guerrero / Chorégraphie : Koen Augustijnen, Rosalba Torres Guerrero, Elie Tass / Danse : Rosalba Torres Guerrero/ Meritxell Checa, Elie Tass / Compositions musicales : Claudio Monteverdi, Luigi Rosso, Marco Ucellini, Antonio Sortorio, Girolamo Frescobaldi / Musique live (accordéon) : Philippe Thuriot, Gwen Cresens / Chants : Liesbeth Devos (soprane), Ed Lyon/ Matthew Long (ténor) / Dramaturgie : Dirk Verstockt / Création costumes : Eleni Ellada Damianou (en collaboration avec Chiara Mazzarollo), Peggy Housset / Création costume cheveux : Sara Judice de Menezes / Création lumière : Helmut Van den Meersschaut / Assistance à la création lumière : Seppe Brouckaert / Conduite : Helmut Van den Meersschaut/Sarah Feyen / Gestion générale : Herwig Onghena / Gestion production, tournée et administration : Nicole Petit
Production : Siamese Cie – GLOED asbl / Coproduction : Charleroi danse, MARS – Mons Arts de la Scène, Château Rouge – Scène conventionnée Annemasse, Théâtre de Cornouaille, Espaces Pluriels – Scène conventionnée, La Monnaie / Soutien : Gouvernement Flamand – Culture, Tax Shelter du Gouvernement fédéral belge via Flanders Tax Shelter, DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes / Remerciements : Gerardus De Swerts, laGeste, CC De Factorij Zaventem, Charleroi danse/La Raffinerie