Man is a lacking animal in itself.

The lack is his nudity
                                                    J. Derrida

We continue, as in the other part “La morte e la faniciulla” of this Poiesis project, by translating a meticulous musical score into a staged performance in the attempt to transform music and bodies into sound to be seen. We found the right form of music in the Free Jazz style, in particular the legendary Charles Mingus album (1956): Pithecanthropus Erectus.

This second part sees four male dancers on stage who give shape to the music from a masculine point of view (intended also in “state” and “position”)

Through the genius of Charles Mingus and his experiment with multi-instrumentation, we try out possible multi-shapes belonging to the 21^st century man.

Listening to this free jazz we have rendered bodies to freedom, shamelessness and the breaking of conventions. Through music with black roots we un-do and mix dance rules (white) which are recognisable in parts but composed in a wild, free and unexpected way; as though the dancers spit them back out in total self-abandonment, reflecting the different backgrounds between them. It is a way of unhinging the disciplines which determine how man moves , going towards splits and divides, birth, the new man, a Dionysus.

Once again the only costume on stage is bare skin: nakedness goes beyond the concept of the dancer, we see the man behind the dancer. The body. An example of men. Exemplary men.

As in free jazz our work is far removed from any narrative form in order to reach a more abstract and performative form.

The story lies in the strength of the choreography which doesn't “explain” but shares a game and physical freedom.

In the dramatic plot we peel away the layers and discover the animal soul as we yearn the origin of our consciousness, as though humanity were reflected in the animal. Through video images the exertion, the sweat and the being of the performers is shown alongside that of animals, both different and alike in bestiality.

From the Caravaggesque and feminine in “La Morte e a fanciulla”, to the solid massif of “Erectus”. Revealed, displayed, external.

Exactly like the pithecanthropus (Java Man).

Animals see the unobstructed
world with their whole eyes.
But our eyes, turned back upon
themselves, encircle and
seek to snare the world,
setting traps for freedom.
The faces of the beasts
show what truly IS to us:
we who up-end the infant and
force its sight to fix upon
things and shapes, not the
freedom that they occupy,
that openess which lies so deep
within the faces of the animals,
free from death!                           

                                                                    Eighth Duino Elegy  by Rainer Maria Rilke

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.

                                                                                                                                       W. Churchill