Dance, Valerio Longo: “My tribute to Piazzolla rethinking the pandemic”

After Milena Zullo’s Contemporary Tango (with Kledi Kadiu in the leading role), the BdR relaunches its challenge to Astor Piazzolla, one hundred years after his birth, with the show ‘Astor. A century of Tango ‘, a dance concert signed by the choreographer Valerio Longo for 8 young dancers of the Ballet of Rome with live music performed at the bandoneon by Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi. Preview at Civitanova Danza, tomorrow in Rome at the Casa del Jazz as part of the Concerts in the Park. “A very physical show, in which I use instruments, the bodies of the dancers, Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi’s bandoneon to express the different facets of Piazzolla’s tanghero and sentimental universe, almost a projection of the same great musician and composer in which I found many affinity with my sensitivity. Love and dedication to work, for example, the possibility of being able to express ourselves through our art. for life, and then the travels, the very Italian roots of Astor Piazzolla. These are some of the themes explored by Valerio Longo, former top dancer of the Aterballetto, today deputy artistic director of the Ballet of Rome and head of the professional start-up course, a ‘corporal’ and poetic itinerary conditioned, perhaps partly solicited, by what is happening in the world. “The pandemic – continued Longo – forced us to relate to our body in a different way. Hugs, handshakes, elbows to thank or say hello, distances … A gesture that has become a theme for choreographic study. , rich in symbols, source of research and reflection, unsuspected, until yesterday “. A pianist mother, who also performed at the bandoneon, many shows within the Ateballetto presented with live music (‘Canto per Orfeo’, ‘Cantata’ ) until the creation ‘Nine Bells’, of which he is the interpreter, on a score by Tom Johnson performed live by Simone Beneventi. “Physicality of bodies and physicality of musical instruments – continued Valerio Longo – A wonderful coexistence to which I have been accustomed since I was a child in search of a soul ‘which I find today in the compositions of Astor Piazzolla, in the audience who came to applaud us in Civitanova Marche “. “We all need to go back to going to the cinema, to the theater to recreate community, to rediscover the lost sociability also motivated by a strong spiritual yearning. It is no coincidence that my ‘Astor’ closes with the Ave Maria di Piazzolla “, concluded Longo.