In 1983 Pupilla, a pièce by and with Valeria Magli, was rich in such unequivocal cultural references as Hans Bellmer and Heinrich von Kleist, articulated in a series of evocative, moving, rarefied images. It still is.
Today’s recreation of the pièce, performed by three dancers from DanceHaus Company, still tells the tale of the relationship between dolls, childhood, eroticism and more.

In Magli’s words: “Dolls belong to the large family of puppets, dummies and clockwork automata: human effigies related to the ancient myth of death and resurrection, the metamorphosis of the living into the dead”.
Rich in highly sophisticated imagination and carefully selected music and verse, Pupilla returns with its ambiguous she-robots from a pioneering Italian season of “poesia ballerina” that is still fresh today.

Pupilla (1983-2014)
A show by Valeria Magli
with DanceHaus Company
performed by Chiara Monteverde, Armida Pieretti, Susan Vettori
narrative voice: Valeria Magli

music by Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Juan Hidalgo, Ethelbert Nevin, C. J. Orth
music editing and restauration (2014): AGON

poems by Hugo Ball, Milli Graffi, Letizia Paolozzi, Giovanni Pascoli, Gisèle Prassinos, Umberto Saba
texts (1983) curated by Valeria Magli and Letizia Paolozzi

direction assistant: Dalila Sena
lights: Michelangelo Campanale
choreography assistant: Maria Pia Tommaselli

costumes (1983): Valeria Magli
costumes restauration (2014): Elisa Scalvini
masks and mannequin (1983): Guerrino Lovato
doll (1983): Brigitte Starczewski Deval

photos (1983): Carla Cerati
photos (2014): Alberto Calcinai

production (1983): Teatro Franco Parenti
production (2014): ContART

Reconstruction within the project RIC.CI
Reconstruction Italian Contemporary Choreography anni ’80-’90
conceived and directed by Marinella Guatterini
management and communication: Silvia Albanese

in collaboration with:
Teatro Pubblico Pugliese – Comune di Bisceglie – progetto “Sistema Garibaldi”/ Amat –
Associazione Marchigiana Attività Teatrali / Arteven Circuito Teatrale Regionale Veneto

in co-production with:
Fondazione Teatro Grande di Brescia / Fondazione Fabbrica Europa per le arti contemporanee /
Fondazione Milano – Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi / Fondazione Ravenna Manifestazioni /
Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Ferrara “Claudio Abbado” / Torinodanza – Fondazione Teatro
Stabile di Torino

[photo: Alberto Calcinai]