In La morte trionfata (Death Defeated), anthropologist Alfonso di Nola described grief as the set of social practices and psychic processes resulting from the death of a loved one. In the past, grief was a social experience as it implied a complex system of shared gestures and tears, well-defined codes and rituals; this system allowed the individual to express grief with the support of the community. Stuporosa, a work by the young choreographer Francesco Marilungo, starts from grief and the deprivation of its community dimension.
The five characters on stage evoke cultural and relational elements as they search for a rituality made of mutual-aid forms, ancient spells, traditional dances. At the same time a temporal friction is created by the nineteenth-century dresses worn by the performers. Here crying can be held back, suffocated, transformed into music or singing, shaped on the sound of an ancient funeral lament from Salento. The music composed by Vera Di Lecce explores repetition’s obsessive mechanisms in order to create a connection with the performers on stage, to inspire them and be inspired by them.
Francesco Marilungo is a thermo mechanical engineer who currently attends the Theatre Dance Atelier of the Paolo Grassi Drama School in Milan. As a performer, he trains following the IFA – Inteatro path and has worked for several artists as Enzo Cosimi, Antonio Marras, Jonathan Burrows/Matteo Fargion and Alessandro Sciarroni. As an author, he focuses on rigorous composition inspired by RTC (Real Time Composition) and on the uncanny through the body and forbidden desires. He presented his works at Danae Festival and Inteatro Festival, and he won such selections as NEXT (Lombardia Region). His latest work Party Girl, that gained him the Prospettiva Danza Award 2020 and the Cross Award 2020, has been selected for Nid – New Italian Dance Platform 2021.
direction and choreography Francesco Marilungo
with Alice Raffaelli, Barbara Novati, Roberta Racis, Francesca Linnea Ugolini, Vera Di Lecce
music and vocal coaching Vera Di Lecce
set and light design Gianni Staropoli
costumes Lessico Familiare
photo and video Luca del Pia
production Körper Centro Nazionale di Produzione della Danza
co-production Fabbrica Europa
sustained by IntercettAzioni – Centro di Residenza Artistica della Lombardia
supported by Short Theatre Festival, Fuori Programma Festival, Teatro Akropolis& Dracma Teatro – Progetto CURA, Did Studio, Base Milano, Qenhun
in partnership with Körper Centro Nazionale di Produzione della Danza
ph Luca Del Pia
