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(on the earth)
Simmeri è na su plefso
to traùdi-mmu
Ma loja atto traudi tôs traudìo
Today I want to weave my song for you
With the words of the Song of Songs
Two bodies stand on the naked scene.
They melt, touching, in slow, almost ineluctable acrobatics,
as if in a suspended dream.
Two women, tied to the millenary memory of the earth, imprisoned
in the painful and immobile signs of tradition, offer their
intimacy. Strong and fragile, fleeting and shy, sensual
and mute within an artificial modesty, stuck waiting.
And still, and always, the earth. Its smell, a tired breath,
the sweat, the search for complicity, the silent defense
of a violated intimacy. And the slow growth towards the
affirmation of a new strength, of the awareness of one’s
life.
In the region of Puglia, in Southern Italy, with its continuous
and deep tie to tradition, every single event of life is
experienced through song and music, and the strong energy
of the body finds renewed expression through the catharsis
of dance. All the songs—for work, festivity, love,
death, and even the simplest lullabies—are charged
with melancholy and sensuality. Dance becomes the power
of courtship, duel and trance. Tradition and modernity coexists,
sharing deep ties and tensions.
Exei mesa was created from this subtle memory.
The music, created especially for this piece, is based on
texts and songs in the dialect and in the Greek language
still spoken in some areas of southern Puglia. The movement
claims the physicality of the traditional dances without
being a slavish imitation of the steps, but rather reinventing
them in a journey that unites the signs of a past laden
with feeling to a new palpitating creative energy.
Exei mesa has won
2002 “Pegaso d’Oro” International Prize
for Artistic Talent
Federazione Italiana Danza, Rome, dir. Carlo Alberto Cherubini
2000 “Percorsi Salernitani”, First Prize, Salerno
President of the Jury, Mº Alberto Testa
Exei mesa began by invitation of
Daniele Cipriani for the Choreography Course, Rome, 2000,
and since 2002 it has the support of Carolyn Carlson and
Susanne Linke.
Title: Exei Mesa (On The Earth)
Greek dialect from Salento, pron. eki mesa
Coreography: Elisa Barucchieri - Ass. Victoria Sogn
Dance: Elisa Barucchieri, Victoria Sogn
Light Design: Franz Catacchio
Music composed by Antongiulio Galeandro, Enza Pagliara,
Paki Zennaro
Length: 45 minutes
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