as part of the project RIC.CI
Reconstruction Italian Contemporary Choreography Anni ‘80/‘90

In 1988 the meeting of Michele Abbondanza and Antonella Bertoni in Paris marks the beginning of an artistic collaboration that leads to the foundation of the Company Abbondanza Bertoni. Michele Abbondanza studies in New York with Carolyn Carlson and is among the promoters of one of the fundamental experiences for the Italian choreography: the foundation of the company Sosta Palmizi in 1984. In these years, the dancer-choreographer is noted by public and critics. Furthermore, the new born Company Abbondanza Bertoni is one of the Italian companies that has been able to provide entertainment for an extremely enlarged audience and won the ETI/Stregagatto Award 97/98 with Romanzo d’infanzia. Their first show as an artistic pair and a couple was performed in 1991: Terramara.

Francesca Pedroni describes it as: “a love story danced as a daily commitment – a feeling to be played not only in the time of secret lovers, but in the time of common labor. Baskets full of oranges to be emptied and filled with, faggots of straw to be moved, sunlit imaginary fields to travel during the months of the harvest. A dance of glances and contacts, where “terramara” (From the latin “terra mala”, i.e. deposits of fat and blackish land, made of the leftovers of vast prehistoric sites) creates the image of a centuries-old stratification of the creative nature (the hundreds of oranges turned upside down on the stage) from which we source and to which we shall return”.

choreography: Michele Abbondanza
with Eleonora Chiocchini e Francesco Pacelli
reconstruction by: Antonella Bertoni
music: J.S. Bach, G. Yared, S. Borè and music from popular traditions
1991 scenery: Lucio Diana
light design: Carlo Meloni
costumes: Marta Griso
technical direction: Andrea Gentili
organisation and press office: Dalia Macii and Francesca Leonelli
1991 production: Drodesera – Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara
2013 production: Compagnia Abbondanza/Bertoni
in collaboration with Amat – Associazione Marchigiana Attività Teatrali, Arteven Circuito Teatrale Regionale Veneto – Città di Venezia – Assessorato alle Attività Culturali, Teatro Pubblico Pugliese
in co-production with Fondazione del Teatro Grande di Brescia, Fondazione Fabbrica Europa per le arti contemporanee, Fondazione Milano Teatro Scuola Paolo Grassi, Fondazione Ravenna Manifestazioni, Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, Torinodanza

Reconstruction within the project
RIC.CI/Reconstruction Italian Contemporary Choreography Anni ’80/’90
creation and artistic direction: Marinella Guatterini
director’s assistant: Myriam Dolce

photo: Stefano Manica