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BY MATTEO BITTANTE
With TRAVIS CLAUSEN-KNIGHT and JAMES PETT
COSTUMES ALESSANDRO VIGILANTE
SOUND MIXING CHRIS COSTA
PRODUCTION DANCEHAUSpiù 2023
Duration 24'
Debut 15-16 april 2023
With the support of
LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE
Le spectre de la rose, a famous 20th-century ballet danced by the most famous dance personalities in the world's most important theatres, is today reinterpreted in a contemporary key by choreographer Matteo Bittante. Entitled Le spectre de la rose | Rave, the show brings to the stage three different artistic personalities that see Matteo Bittante himself, for years the on-stage partner of the étoile Luciana Savignano, dancing together with two British dancers and creative artists: Travis Clausen-Knight, recently starring with Roberto Bolle in Bolle and Friends, and James Pett, former partner of Alessandra Ferri in the BBC documentary Performance Live
"I retreated into solitude and danced all day, to the point of exhaustion, but the next morning that infernal dance began again. I tried to escape myself, and at night I wandered aimlessly. During the day I kept myself hidden and danced alone in the woods and on the deserted mountains." - Carl Gustav Jung
From the famous ballet Le spectre de la rose, inspired by the poem of the same name by Théophile Gautier (1837), the choreographer Matteo Bittante elaborates a personal interpretation in a contemporary key.
The memorable dream of the young girl is here transformed into an imaginative journey of a forty-year-old man overwhelmed by the experience and echo of a Rave.
Lost in his own anxieties and trapped within himself, the protagonist is overwhelmed by the spectral vision of two young dancers. Two spirits who, in a surreal and dreamlike atmosphere, drag him into a visceral dance that binds instincts, desires and existences.
The rose, in this imagery, is the symbol of spiritual rebirth. It has the transformative and self-reflective power to bring back awareness and self-love, allowing the protagonist to resent himself in his own uniqueness and at the same time part of the whole.
RAVE
Le spectre de la rose | Rave di Matteo Bittante PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Le spectre de la rose | Rave di Matteo Bittante PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Le spectre de la rose | Rave di Matteo Bittante PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Le spectre de la rose | Rave di Matteo Bittante PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Ph. Salvatore Lazzaro
PHOTOS DURING RESEARCH
PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Le spectre de la rose | Rave di Matteo Bittante PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Le spectre de la rose | Rave di Matteo Bittante PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Le spectre de la rose | Rave di Matteo Bittante PH Salvatore Lazzaro
Ph. Salvatore Lazzaro
MATTEO BITTANTE
JAMES PETT
Photo by Yumiko Inoue
An award-winning dancer and choreographer who lives in London and works internationally. Before graduating from the Laban Dance Centre, where he received the Marion North Award for outstanding achievement in performance, he trained as a gymnast. He danced with the Richard Alston Dance Company and the Wayne McGregor Company for over six years. Among the highlights of his career: the duet with Alessandra Ferri for a BBC2 documentary, the performance at the Bolshoi Theatre for the 'Benois De La Danse' star gala, and the duet he danced in the piece Unfinished Business, which was awarded Best Duet by the New York Times in 2013. He recently choreographed his first full-length work for Bangkok City Ballet, entitled Unfolding.
TRAVIS CLAUSEN-KNIGHT
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Photo by Alex Fine
Born in South Africa, Travis has developed a significant career dancing for choreographers such as Wayne McGregor CBE, Michael Clark, Matthew Bourne, Bawren Tavaziva, Holly Noble, Tim Podesta and Alexander Whitley leading him to perform on stages such as the Bolshoi, New York City Centre, Sadlers Wells, Palais Garnier, Bastille and many more. He received the 2020 Korean International Contemporary Dance Competition Award for best choreography. His creations include: Linear, Exposure, ProXimity, Stutter and Informal Between with international premieres in countries such as Japan, Australia, Italy, Korea and London.
Since 2014, James and Travis have been working together in different creations. In September 2022 they presented the show Momentum at Sadler's Wells, which included their works Thou Art the Man, Eye of the Storm, C.I. and Serious Game together with several international choreographers. In 2021 they founded the duo Pett | Clausen-Knight, of which IMAGO is the first full-length creation.