If you love dance, if you like theatre, if you want to see something precious, go and see Spartacus, i.e. the new, delightful show by Trentino dancer-choreographer Michele Abbondanza…The couple have perhaps reached maturity here…A wonderful show during which young and old laugh heartily, clapping with gusto after each “number” and for the grand finale.
Emilio Guariglia, « Alto Adige » , July 1995

For expressive quality, aesthetic intelligence, spectacular energy and creative energy, Michele Abbondanza is one of the most important representatives of dance theatre in Italy. Sweeping the audience along, (there are many bursts of applause mid-scene and the final round is unstoppable), Spartacus entertains with rhymes and acrobats…With Michele Abbondanza the formidable potential of dance theatre, this performance genre which despite everything still remains relatively unknown, is cause for reflection every time…Will Michele and Antonella manage to keep working in Italy? We hope so: meanwhile Spartacus, with its warm blend of skill, thought and entertainment seems to transmit energy even in memory alone.
Valeria Ottolenghi, « Gazzetta di Parma » , August 1995

The centaur, (or lion or elephant man), the strongman, the snake woman or clumsily sensual odalisque (Abbondanza’s hugely enjoyable role is accompanied by excellent performances from Bertoni and Pedrotti) allude to, and with the explicit vigour of physicality and rhythm put into practice, the dimension of transformation and the fantastic (perhaps) possible on the day that is no more by the “artists under the circus tent of the perplexed”.   
Pasquale Bellini, « La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno » , 25 October 1997

With Spartacus, Michele Abbondanza gave the audience sixty minutes of smiles, conjuring up the atmosphere of a wild circus with its inevitable sensations of sadness and melancholy. The dancers are all good, because it’s no easy task to combine lightness with the technical rigour needed to satisfy even the fussiest. The audience understood, appreciating the irony and stage control of this trio in a performance of considerable interpretative energy.
L.C. « L’Unione Sarda » , October 1995

Spartacus, a small circus with a kletzmer orchestra. There is all there should be in this ‘30’s-cum-post-modern rendition: ponies, contortionists, clowns and acrobats, and everything is performed with perfect rhythm, talent, smiles and beauty. Why do we bother chasing after Cortés or Parson here in Italy?
Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino, « Il Giorno » , August 1996

We came across a real show: Spartacus. Right from the start it’s clear where we’ve ended up and the fun only gets better as the show wears on. Sprinkled with continual inventions, it is a polite, utterly entertaining satire of the circus…Michele Abbondanza, an extraordinary figure, is the most athletic of our dance-theatre dancers…one can’t help but admire the perfect volleyball-player physique, the harmony, rhythm and slouching male grace of this excellent, really likeable modern dancer…No need to search further afield for exquisite artists - we’ve got them right here at home, on hand, the revelations of a great theatre of fantastical, pyrotechnical illusions.
Alberto Testa, « La Repubblica » , August 1996

Three artists in the broadest sense of the word: together with partners Antonella Bertoni and Maria Tullia Pedrotti, Abbondanza is a wonderful, fragile strolling player offering his unlikely numbers in square after square, content with a smile or applause.
Aurora Marsotto, « Il Sole 24 Ore » , 1 November 1998

The three dancers give exceptional performances and make us love every character parading about in front of our eyes, in a whirl of colours and stunts we wish would never end.
Silvia Massimino, « Sipario » , January-February 1999

The choreography of the trio explores the contortion of bodies transported in a lyrical saraband, all to the rhythm of Hungarian gypsy melodies played by musicians dressed up for a party…The traditional components of a circus go through the mill of an imagination that closely resembles the silent movies of the twenties.
Edwige Audibert, « Liberation » , 3 August, 2000