"Perhaps only the lack of form is the highest manifestation of power"
Kobo Abe, La donna di sabbia
WINGS AT TEA
Inspired by the paintings of Marc Chagall, characterized by colorful and extravagant fantasies, and by his flying figures, Wings at Tea debuted in 2001 in Durham, USA, within the American Dance Festival as part of the program dedicated to international choreographers. The matrix on which the entire performance unfolds, comparable to the genre of dance theater, is based musically on the original compositions of American cellist Chris Lancaster, integrated with pieces by Yma Sumac, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Metallica. Choreographer Tatiana Baganova claims that from the moments captured in Chagall's paintings one can infer the story that led to those moments, as well as imagine what follows: Wings at Tea stages the cycle of life, symbolized by the encounter/conflict between men and women, in a battle of the sexes where urgencies, seductions, and possibilities converge.
SEPIA
The performance Sepia is inspired by the book by Japanese writer and playwright Kobo Abe, La donna di sabbia. Created by Tatiana Baganova as part of the American Dance Festival in 2010, the show aims to convey the atmospheres evoked by the text: "The idea behind considering sand as a negation of stability is not so crazy... the movement of an eighth of a millimeter, a world where existence is a chain of states," it reads in the novel. Sand thus becomes both an emblem of time, a habitat for heroes, and a mutating element. The infinity of movement caused by the sand is accompanied on stage by long and slow fragments of Symphony No. 8 by Armenian composer Avet Terteryan, reproducing the concept expressed by the writer that "sand flows, but differently from water: you can swim in water, but under the weight of sand, a person sinks."
Provincial dances theatre, active since 1990 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, boasts a repertoire of about thirty productions, to the creation of which foreign choreographers such as Joachim Schlömer and Christine Brunel (Germany), Anouk van Dijk and Shusaku Takheuchi, Uri Ivgi and Johan Greben (Netherlands) have also contributed. Winner of the Russian national theater award Golden Mask and many other accolades in various countries across Europe, the company is based on various methods from European and American schools, including ballet, yoga, body conditioning, release, and other techniques useful for the required professional and artistic development. Known in Russia and abroad as an avant-garde company whose performances combine movement, visual expressions, and theatrical arts in a recognizable style, Provincial Dances Theatre favors the interaction between various artistic forms. The company's aesthetics are indeed based on the synthesis of music, dance, lights, costumes, and the expressiveness of the actors, on a particular concept of eclecticism aimed at the search for new ideas and means of artistic expression.
Tatiana Baganova, holder of numerous awards in the field of dance and theater in Russia and abroad, is the main choreographer of the Provincial Dances Theatre.
