Donatella Capraro studied classical dance and piano, graduating from the Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Rome in 1976. She later focused on teaching and studying modern and oriental dance.
Marcello Parisi began his experience in experimental theater in 1974. Through his studies, he developed his own style by integrating biomechanics, martial arts, and anthropology, the latter at the Sociology faculty of the University of Rome, where he graduated with a thesis on new trends in theater and dance.
In 1984, they founded the company Efesto, based in Sicily, where they serve as directors and choreographers. In March 1985, they won the 1st prize at the XVII International Choreography Competition "Le Ballet pour Demain" in Bagnolet with "Il pozzo degli Angeli". In July of the same year, the company was invited to Nervi for the dance festival curated by Vittoria Ottolenghi, "Danza nel pomeriggio," marking the beginning of their professional activities, recognized in Italy with the Positano Dance Prize "Leonide Massine."
In 1986, the Teatro dell’Opera di Genova commissioned their production of Igor Stravinsky's "Renard," and the Festival di Comacchio "Ballo è bello" produced the show "Camelot." The same year saw the creation of "Cavalcata" to the music of Duke Ellington and "Humi Procumbere" to Beethoven's music.
In 1987, the Efesto company created "SOS" (produced by "I Cento Comuni d’Italia" under the auspices of the Council of Ministers) and "Nei miei Piani ravvolto," inspired by the poetry of Michelangelo. That year, Donatella Capraro and Marcello Parisi also created Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" for the Dennis Wayne Company in New York.
"Harem" is a work inspired by the Mediterranean, conceived as a great harem itself: a magical chest full of beauty, a golden cage, yet also a forbidden place. This reflects the Mediterranean border, simultaneously sunny and closed, dark yet enchanting, where antiquity and modern history still intertwine their signs.
