It is essential to approach MK's works in a 'virgin state' of complete openness because it is nearly impossible to trace any adherence to a predefined dance model within them. Nourished by a gestural choice that is distant from both the everyday and purely aesthetic states, MK's works stand as a category unto themselves.
Founded in Rome in 1997 by the eclectic Michele Di Stefano (choreographer, dancer, singer, actor, and literature scholar), dancer Biagio Caravano, and composer Paolo Sinigaglia, the MK company boasts several works, all developed with complete methodological autonomy. There is no cyclicality or compositional return in the group's body of work; rather, there is the urgency to reset and start anew each time, albeit with a now perfectly recognizable stylistic signature.
Creation happens collectively under the generative impulse of Michele Di Stefano: each member abandons their competencies, their talents, in favor of total permeability with the external environment. Taking its cue from the 'theme' of disorientation and sudden changes in direction and rhythm, Mk ultra ('00) sets the stage, while the subsequent Zero Moses ('01) centers on the denial of the compositional process to the extent that dancers are subject to the interference of an added, intrusive dancer who jeopardizes the formal architecture. The indispensable common denominator in all the works is the body subjected to new dynamic possibilities. Already in e-ink ('99), the extraordinary 'out-of-format' duet (due to the physical structure of the two performers—Di Stefano being extremely thin and lanky, Caravano more compact and muscular), a cameo of disharmony, union, and bifurcation, Di Stefano's ever-evolving and surprising writing displayed all the variations of dynamics. In Addominale Bianco ('02), the show hosted by Oriente Occidente, there is something more in addition to rhythm: the bewilderment and obtuseness (being outside of knowledge) of the body. The choreographer writes: "The first corollary of this obtuse attitude is having to deal with a type of communication that seeks to resolve itself in the evidence of the enigma, where the peculiarity of dance as a place of silence becomes increasingly clear. We are exercising control so that nothing of what is acted out refers to anything else." The research then focuses once again on the erasure of the ego to make way for rhythmic unleashing. Thus, on stage, the bodies of the four performers agitate frenetically, awkwardly, and magnetically against their will, drawn by hidden magnetic fields. The white, almost deadly space is empty and disorienting. Every point is central (as Cunningham teaches), every path taken is important, explored according to visceral impulses rather than will. The catapulted body yearns for contact, and with Addominale Bianco, the syntax of the choreographic phrase lives with a lyrical elasticity.
Another stage intervention, preceding the Rovereto debut of Addominale Bianco, will characterize MK's presence at the 2003 edition of the Oriente Occidente Festival. This involves the public presentation of a creative stage of the new work (Bird Watching project) stimulated by elements added to the company's stable core: participants from the seminar Michele Di Stefano holds from August 22 to 28 at the new CID Centro Internazionale della Danza Formazione, Produzione e Promozione.
Titled BW: Sigourney Weaver, the show will be the result of collective cooperation on a project that involves the intrusion of bodies foreign to the group's choreographic dynamics. It represents a further exploration into the performers' strange desire to withdraw at the moment of maximum exposure.
