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La Natura Delle Cose was performed in the Abbey stage for a two-day run from May 14 to 15th as part of the Dublin Dance Festival. It was choreographed and directed by the Florentine artist Virgilio Sieni who was inspired by Lucretius’ poem, De Rerum Natura. The audience learns the technicality, and the concept used by Sieni, for instance, shintaido – a ‘’danced’’ Japanese martial technique with vocal accompaniment. Having that in mind, the spectators are conceptually prepared to witness the trajectory of human life portrayed by architectural bodies on stage.
La Natura Delle Cose explores the notion of bodily communication, the nature of life in this world, dehumanization of existence, and the fear of the unavoidable tragedy: death. Sieni’s visions are choreographed art pieces, a Renascentist gallery brought to life. The director reinforces certain images by respecting the tempo of specific movements. These are accompanied by the Italian poem which is hypnotically uttered over the performance. The poem was read in Italian, keeping the performance in its purest form. Yet, it was accessible for all to understand as the spectators were provided with a translation of the poem. This was a clever directorial and dramaturgical choice (Dramaturgical Writings & Translation by Giorgio Agamben) as the form, the lyrical feature and the prosody of the original words in Italian elegantly resonated on the Irish stage due to the transgressive nature of the performance. The rhythmic features and the melody of the words, if in English, would not suit the distinctive, precise movements of the dancers.
The stage design was simple, practical and functional: light white fabrics covered the entire space. The front part of the material fell in its own gravitational speed. It was a beautiful movement which welcomed the living personas onto the stage. Additionally, the set (Lighting & Set Design, Virgilio Sieni and Mattia Bagnoli) allowed the performers (Romana Caia, Jari Boldrini, Maurizio Giunti, Andrea Palumbo and Nicola Cisternino) to expand the visual forms and use the entire space. Lighting was well intertwined with the mood and the circumstances of the life of the main performer, Venus, who was always fluctuating amongst the bodies and the void, amongst the other performers and the nothingness of the stage. There were impressive moments, for instance, a white glove as tall as the height of the stage which entered stage-left during a scene change. This combination of movement, lighting and voice (Nada Malanima) guided the audience members into a trance which made the complex performance easily digestible.
The performance was ushered by original music from Francesco Giomi, which made the audience members enter the moments with the performers; allowing them to them feel the circumstances, the tension and the fear along with them. All the components of this piece were bewitchingly combined, guiding everyone into the realms of lost humanism as they passively watch the metamorphic process of the body on stage.
