A creation for the Arno river, DéRives (dRift), opening event of Fabbrica Europa, brings together the elements of water and wind to give life to new horizons.

An actor-musician, in the image of the flute player in the Brother’s Grimm, sets the scene with the sound of an amplified flute; casting all away with the current, perhaps even the people.
Behind the musician a host of drifting transparent figures follows on, swaying at the will of the wind and current. These silhouettes set on the water, which light up by night, glide on the surface of the river : a people of transparent bodies that slowly descend the river.
Three actor-shepherds flank and accompany this big, bright vagabond troupe. As guardians of the transhumance, it is their role to keep the troupe in the current’s flow, and to spot the stragglers.

This perpetual dance expresses the diversity of individuals, and the herd instinct of a social group.

From 3 to 5 September Ilotopie also presents the installation Danse solaire pour un couple de cristal in the Fontana del Re in the Cascine Park, where some mysterious and ethereal silhouettes will inhabit the surface of the water.

ilotopie came into being on an island at the very end of the river Rhone, where it meets the Mediterranean Sea in the Camargue, amongst wild spaces and heavy industry. It is an association of artists drawn to the atypical, making stages of urban spaces, from buses to wastelands, stopping off at buildings, squares, streets and parks along the way. ilotpie devises shows to suit the town or landscape at hand, from full-scale spectacles to intimate performances, combining visual art and theatre, always seeking new forms.
Today, all over the world, they turn to waters and seek to give them new meaning. Rivers, lakes, seas and ports are, along with forests,
their source of imagination. By inventing technologies which allow actors to walk
and perform on their element, ilotopie has come to pioneer an original mode of aquatic performance, which has now paid visit to over 50 countries.

artistic direction: Bruno Schnebelin
proposal and proposition & mise en scène : Dominique Noel
music composition: Anna Idatte & Fabrice Valenza
technical direction: Julien Bonelli
costumes: Lucile Boissonnet & Ann Williams
actors: Sébastien Coulomb, Lucile Boissonnet, Bruno Schnebelin
stage direction: Ghislain Bertrand, Julien Bonelli, William Nefussi, Boris Wenger
administration & production : Sandrine Brunet & Ludovic Fasa
construction: Ghislain Bertrand, Valérie Cartier, Sébastien Coulomb, Nathan Escudero, Andràs Hajdu, Anna Idatte, Daniela Luna, Ilian Nageli, William Nefussi, Éléonore Rouland, Vincent Saint Loubert Bié, Boris Wenger, Pascal Wyrobnik

with the support of Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati – Fondazione franco-italiana di sostegno alla creazione contemporanea

[photo: Eric Bienvenu]