In his new creation, “ABI/TIAMO”, Giuseppe Spota enters the labyrinth of life. Widely ramified paths open in unknown directions and towards surprising possibilities and destinations.
One has to become aware, stand one’s ground, and create one’s own free space: “seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.” (Italo Calvino)
Now with “Abi/Tiamo”, he shows his choreographical talent in great style. Poetic images emerge right at the start, when in the backdrop of the stage Kihako Narisawa guards the scene in a supersized crinoline. She is the personified Inferno, with Spota hinting at the book “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino. In an imaginary dialogue it is made clear that Hell is not awaiting but already amongst us. But even without this knowledge, his piece is exciting from the beginning to the end, it’s associative and dreamy.
Three bow-shaped walls, cramped like a snail’s shell, open up more and more, pouring out the other dancers, among them the main characters Ayumi Sagawa and Frank Pedersen as a pair of lovers. They seek and find each other, put the walls between them and in the end build a bridge with them. Like Thoss, Spota also uses a sound collage, and works with video projection and symbolically charged figures.
Nevertheless, a very different atmosphere emerges in his choreography. Thoss’ pieces are cool and dark on this evening, Spota’s warm and sensual. They couldn’t complement each other better.
For the first time Stephan Thoss allowed his ensemble member Giuseppe Spota an important choreographical contribution, the forty-five minute piece “ABI/TIAMO”, a play on words between “we live” and “I love you”. Spota’s pair of lovers “live” on a stage, which is defined by moveable, curvy walls: they provide concealment and shelter, demarcation and abatis, closed off borders, a mysterious path towards the distance, and – tilted to the side – an instable dance plane.
Amongst eight dancers, dressed in white-layered outfits, Ayumi Sagawa and Frank Fannar Pedersen are the only ones in khaki – no surprise that they literally gravitate towards each other. [...]
[...] In the third part, the FAUST prize winning dancer Giuseppe Spota shows with “Abi/Tiamo”, a play on words between “we live” and “I love you”, his choreographical reflexion on Italo Calvino’s Armageddon novel “Invisible Cities”. A white loathsome mass caulks the face of a woman, projected onto the stage curtain. Dancers in white costumes hatch like insects from wavelike wood constructions. Ayumi Sagawa and Frank Pedersen dance a pair of lovers with convincing mien, who are looking for their place in this strange world.
The dancing company entertains with a few stunts. Women as well as men in free-fall, alone or as a pair, eye catchers in a well thought out choreography, with a gloomy theme, which nevertheless gives hope for a new generation of choreographers from Wiesbaden. We’d like to see more from Giuseppe Spota.