ORLANDO- updated
ABOUT THE PIECE
// World Premiere: 16th October 2009, Theater im Ballsaal, Bonn
// in co-production with Theater im Ballsaal, Bonn / tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf
// Funded by: Kunststiftung NRW/ Fonds Darstellende Künste/ Landschaftsverband Rheinland/ Landesbüro Freie Kultur/ Ministerpräsident des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen/ Bundesstadt Bonn/ Le
Conseil de la Culture Etat du Valais
In “Orlando furioso” by Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto, quarrel-, adventure- and love-addicted characters take the lead. Mad, lonely people who grapple with the anarchy and chaos of their times. The epos, for which Ariosto exploited every conceivable literary source, from the Iliad through the Arthurian legend up to the real history of the European Middle Ages, is in particular a labyrinth of possibilities, persistently rejected and abandoned by Ariosto in a lifelong process. It is a beginning without end, and an end without beginning. The “postmodern” aesthetics and method of Ariosto pose an invitation for a fresh, playful, ironic analysis of the familiar material with the aim of updating it. “Orlando-updated” – the dance piece of the dance piece.
BY AND WITH
Choreography / Direction: Rafaële Giovanola /// Music: Jörg Ritzenhoff (according to motives of the opera »Orlando« from George Frederic Handel) /// costumes: Frank Chamier /// Lighting design: Marc Brodeur /// Video installation: Axel Largo /// Dramaturgy / Concept: Rainald Endraß
PRESS REVIEWS
"Choreographer Rafaële Giovanola has explored the ridiculous fantasy world of Ariosto’s great epic poem Orlando Furioso with eleven male and female dancers. There is no narrative
continuum and there are no consistent characters, but continual beginnings, circular movements and idle motions, approaches, chases and fights in this world that has become its own stage,
that has been thrown out of joint after the knight Orlando has lost his mind because of his unrequited love to Angelica."
Elisabeth Einecke-Klövekorn, General-Anzeiger, Bonn
"Some years ago, postmodern literary critics announced “the death of the author” and made stories material for game play in the realm of the possible. “Orlando” is such a plot that might
have originated with Ariosto, but that varied time and again over the centuries. (...) Particularly impressive, however, turn out the numerous partner and solo scenes, in which the dancers
present their ideas of the characters that have been transformed time and again. A man and a woman melt together to become a hermaphrodite. Joerg Ritzenhoff accompanies this, playing the
harpsichord and computer live, plundering Handel, quoting Pop and creating electro. Ideal for the artfully arranged fictional chaos about a story, of which the updating and reloading will
surely continue well into the future."
Nicole Strecker, Kölner Stadtanzeiger
"Rafaële Giovanola has obviously revised her choreography. Much of it is new, other parts can be recognised. The abstraction of the somewhat crude storyline has increased significantly,
which is indebted to the more intimate atmosphere in the Ballsaal and the greater proximity to the audience. The choreographic approach, which stages this moral story of wayward love and
battle cries comically or violently and always artistically, is very convincing. The greater autonomy of the dance images speaks in favour of this “new version”. There are no set roles. Thus,
there is more room for the audience’s fantasy and the dancers have room for sensitive parts. Well-earned big applause."
Heinz-Dieter Terschüren, Bonner Rundscha