review SPRING "Lively and compelling" - de Volkskrant ★★★★
24 March 2024
Mauro Bigonzetti’s choreography is not innovative or stunning, but with Introdans it is lively and compelling.
by Annette Embrechts
Rossini Cards is a wonderful start to the triptych Spring, in which the dance company has bundled the work of the Italian choreographer.
A sigh of admiration flows through the room when the curtain rises and 25 Introdancers at a stage-wide dining table move their arms and torsos stylishly and smoothly to an opera fragment by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). Then Vérine Bouwman and Salvatore Castelli break away to intertwine their almost naked bodies together on stage in a controlled and acrobatic manner. Wonderful how lovingly she curls her feet around his face. Nice how he lengthens her torso by sliding his under it. A living work of art.
These new parts from Rossini Cards (2004) for Introdans, with the cheerful finale full of flying berets, form a wonderful start to the triptych Spring. The Arnhem dance company brings together new and existing work by Mauro Bigonzetti (64).
The Italian choreographer places great emphasis on the symbolism of waving arms and gesticulating hands, as is evident from the world premiere Bambù (2024), created especially for Introdans. The fingers interwoven into a circle are a recurring reference to the hollow trunk, the flexibility and the binding power of bamboo.
The Japanese fairy tale poem recited on tape adds little meaning, but Bigonzetti’s organic flow fits the Introdancers like a glove. It is not innovative or stunning, but it is lively and compelling.
This certainly applies to the showpiece Cantata (2001), in which the dancers gather energetically like a festive meeting on a village square. The women jump on men’s shoulders and whip their long hair in front of their faces. The jokes about sweat, cauliflower and anchovies are unnecessary and Bigonzetti’s machismo is oozing. But the expressive singing voices of Cristina Vetrone (with accordion), Lorella Monti (both from the duo Assurd), Enza Pagliara and Enza Alessandra Prestia form a glowing feminine counterbalance.