Between the seasons of love. On stage at the Greek Theatre of Syracuse the Inda production «Horai»

The dance steps of the étoile Eleonora Abbagnato, the music of Vivaldi and Scarlatti, but also of George Gershwin and Jimmy Van Heusen, together with the words of Aristophanes, Catullus, Horace and Apollonius Rhodius. The internationally renowned director and choreographer Giuliano Peparini has mixed these ingredients and on Friday 5th and Saturday 6th July he will bring to the stage at the Greek theatre in Syracuse «Horai – The four seasons». And there is great anticipation for the journey through the seasons of love, which Peparini has created for the ancient cavea by adapting a show first staged three years ago.

The feelings of life, the emotions that transcend age, the places, the time for the fourth production of the National Institute of Ancient Drama Foundation for the 59th season of classical plays after «Ajax» by Sophocles directed by Luca Micheletti , «Phaedra (crown-bearing Hippolytus)» by Euripides directed by Paul Curran and «Miles Gloriosus» by Plautus directed by Leo Muscato.

«It is a story told first and foremost through bodies and music – explains Giuliano Peparini –. A tour de force for two dancers accompanied by a large dance troupe and evocative projections, completed by the verses of Greek and Latin poets. Classical poetry often compares love to the flowers of spring, the heat of summer or the frost of winter. Following this trend, we have associated the movement of dance and the sounds of music with the words of Aristophanes, Catullus, Apollonius Rhodes and Horace.”

The protagonist will be Eleonora Abbagnato, from Palermo, a star of world dance, the first Italian to hold the role of étoile of the Paris Opera, director of the Ballet Corps and the dance school of the Rome Opera House, who will perform for the first time at the Greek Theater in Syracuse. Also on stage will be the first dancer Michele Satriano in a show that will involve 25 artists and 15 students of the Accademia dell’Inda.

Giving voice and body to the eternal words of the classical poets will be Giuseppe Sartori, who returns to perform in the ancient cavea where Oedipus and Orestes were unforgettable in two of the most beautiful productions of recent years and last year he was the protagonist of Peparini’s show «Ulysses, the last Odyssey». «I owe a lot to the theater of Syracuse which gave me wonderful human artistic experiences and encounters – explains Sartori –. This return is very different from a year ago when we staged a show born and raised here (Ulysses, the last Odyssey by Homer). This is a dance show that already debuted a few ago at the Baths of Caracalla but not in the form we will see in Syracuse. I will be “the poet”, a character who has been inserted specifically and who crosses this danced world and enriches it with words. Because words, dance and images do not travel on different tracks but try to speak to each other. From the fascination of the spring of an encounter between two human beings to a love that stabilizes and becomes mature that changes shape and mutates until it fades and gets lost following the evolution of the seasons.”

A dialogue between dance, with choreography created by Giuliano Peparini, classical music by Vivaldi and Scarlatti, pieces by George Gershwin, Jimmy Van Heusen and Phil Silvers, and the verses of classic Greek and Latin opera translated by the Greek scholar Francesco Morosi. The choir is directed by Elena Polic Greco, the singing choirs are conceived by Simonetta Cartia.