This work stemmed from curiosity regarding how oracular and prophetic messages are transmitted. Although precise in form, they are the result of destabilisation. Both exact and ambiguous in one, their communication is based around the momentary domestication of something whose nature desires it to be continually rewritten and reinvented. And misinterpreted.
Perhaps in the constant changing of the body’s state and its inconsequential reordering we can get closer to this unusual point of view and the compositional potential of a changing form of writing. Like the electronic inks of the near future, but only readable as a premonition.
Michele Di Stefano, 1999

The duet e-ink is fully choreographed, down to the smallest detail, to the extent that is appears paroxysmal and maniacal in its abundance of symbols, each of which follows a different rhythmic logic. Whilst we were reconstructing the work it was above all the body which rediscovered the precision of the writing, fusing all the detached details and returning them to an organic whole made up of mysterious iconography.
The main thing we asked to the two new performers was unconditional trust in this unrecognisable system, producing a physical rhythm that is not necessarily identical to the original, but which is capable of recreating the same absolute, arbitrary authority that characterises the work. The extraordinary pliability of these new bodies led once more to the blossoming of a choreographic element based on the contrast between precision and disorientation, the same principle for which the Oracle of Delphi was built. This new dynamic is achieved through unspeakable power, producing perfectly crafted verses in the process. Dance is clearly a matter of language.
Michele Di Stefano, 2015

choreography: Michele Di Stefano
performers: Damiano Artale, Philippe Kratz
music: Paolo Sinigaglia
light design: Michele Di Stefano
1999 production: mk/Festival Teatri 90/Ref. – première: February 1999 Teatri90 festival – Teatro Franco Parenti, Milan – performers: Biagio Caravano, Michele Di Stefano
2015 production: mk, Aterballetto, Fabbrica Europa
reconstruction curated by Biagio Caravano and Michele Di Stefano
choreography, lighting and costumes: Michele Di Stefano
Reconstruction within the project RIC.CI Reconstruction Italian Contemporary Choreography Anni ’80-‘90
conception and artistic direction: Marinella Guatterini
organization and communication: Silvia Albanese
in collaboration with: AMAT | Associazione Marchigiana Attività Teatrali / ARTEVEN Circuito Teatrale Regionale Veneto / TPP | Teatro Pubblico Pugliese
in co-production with: Fondazione Teatro Grande di Brescia / Fondazione Milano Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi / Fondazione Ravenna Manifestazioni / Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Ferrara “Claudio Abbado” / Torinodanza | Fondazione del Teatro Stabile di Torino<

[photo: Nadir Bonazzi]