as part of Fabbrica Europa 2024
in collaboration with Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

That‘s All Folks!, is conceived as an ideal continuation of our previous work, Un Discreto Protagonista, with the idea of widening the space for reflection on aspects of choreographic writing and, more generally, artistic composition. It constitutes the second chapter in a trilogy that brings dance, science, and myth into dialogue.
While Un Discreto Protagonista was based on the origin of the universe, and the physical and astronomical processes involved, this new creation shifts the attention to the arrival of man in the history of the universe, or rather to the relationship between man and the cosmos.

With a quartet of dancers, we wanted to explore two different paths. Firstly, we have sought a “purely physical narrative” through complex movement patterns, intended to create a thematic structure that unfolds within the work in a gradual and continuous process. This path was based on research on ritual forms related to founding myths and cosmology, which operate based on archetypal figures and paths. We have stood on a frontier between irrationality and control, logic, and chaos, to explore spatial and dimensional relationships, where everything takes on meaning when connected to the other.

Secondly, we focused on the construction of four characters. These characters are suspended in an undefined space, a fleeting, non-fixed place that is the point of no return of a journey towards a non-place and a non-time. Here they experience a liminal dimension and are invited to encounter their unconscious and archetypal memory. This path is inspired by the concept of the “event horizon”, that horizon beyond which we cannot see, and everything collapses into an infinitely dense expanse. An imaginary circular frontier, where our characters search for a new beginning or proof that something existed before what we know: our world could have originated from a previous universe, from a moment called ” the bounce”, when space and time disappeared: the moment when everything dissolved into a teeming cloud of probability.

This journey has led us to question the nature of time, motion, and instability in a time and place where there is no longer a central axis or perspective, and everything fluctuates relative to where we look. On this edge, our vulnerabilities and strengths have been reflected and mixed as we teetered trying to learn more about ourselves.

– Damiano Ottavio Bigi, Alessandra Paoletti –

FRITZ Company Bigi/Paoletti is an artistic project and a dance theatre company founded in 2020 by Damiano Ottavio Bigi, dancer and choreographer, and Alessandra Paoletti, actress and director. Their work is born in a dialogue with languages of different nature, moving between the genres of dance, theatre and visual arts.

Damiano Ottavio Bigi is an Italian choreographer, dancer and performer. From the Rome Opera to Dimitris Papaioannou’s company, passing through several companies (CNDC d’Angers e il CCN di Nantes) before becoming a member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch (2005), where he still works as a guest artist. In 2010 he participated in the film “PINA” by Wim Wenders. The encounters of his career led him to confront different experiences and visions, enriching his world and inspiring his path. In 2016 he was awarded the “Premio Capri Danza International” and in 2020 the “Premio Sfera d’Oro per la Danza”.

Alessandra Paoletti is an Italian actress and director active in the field of research theatre and contemporary dance. Graduated from the National Academy of Drama “Silvio D’Amico”, as an interpreter and as a director/choreographer moves through different languages and visions. Among the most significant encounters and collaborations of her artistic career are those with A.Knapp, J.A.Stanzak, T.Ostermeier, J.Muller/Fura dels Baus, J. Sanchis Sinisterra, R.Garcia and L.De Bei, winning with the latter “Le Maschere del Teatro Prize” and the “Golden Graal Award”. She has long collaborated with the Istanbul Municipal Theatre as a foreign director.

a creation by Damiano Ottavio Bigi & Alessandra Paoletti
with Damiano Ottavio Bigi, Ching-Ying Chien, Issue Park, Faith Prendergast
composition and sound design: David Blouin
music: David Blouin, Colin Stetson / Sarah Neufeld Duo, Gary ‘Oslide, Henry Purcell, Hank Williams
lighting design: Lucien Laborderie
set and costumes in collaboration with Tzela Christopoulou
set construction: Marios Karaolis
technical director: David Blouin
materials in collaboration with the dancers
co-produced by Festival Equilibrio Roma, FRITZ Company, Compagnia Simona Bucci/Degli Istanti, Fondazione Fabbrica Europa / PARC Performing Arts Research Centre
supported by Pina Bausch Zentrum (Wuppertal), 2 WORKS/Dimitris Papaioannou, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Colonia in collaboration with NID Platform, CHATHA Lyon, Centro di Residenza della Toscana (Armunia – CapoTrave / Kilowatt)

Selected by NID Platfrom 2024 – Programming section

Special thanks to Dimitris Papaioannou for his precious support
Thanks also to Tina Papanikolau, Bettina Milz, Felicitas Willems, Aicha M’Barek & Hafiz Dhaou, Gerarda Ventura, Alessandra Stanghini

photo: © Fondazione Musica per Roma_MUSA