Emanuela Tagliavia’s Gemina Lux with La Scala ballerinas Caterina Bianchi and Letizia Masini at the Fisiko Festival
As soon as La Scala Ballet’s season concludes, the dancers – like those in all companies – flit off to dance in holiday locations and festivals, usually with gala fare, dusting down Odette’s swan ears or Solor’s turban from the previous year.
Occasionally new works are presented, as happened at the Fisiko Festival where choreographer Emanuela Tagliavia created Gemina Lux, performed by La Scala ballerinas Caterina Bianchi and Letizia Masini.
Tagliavia, a former contemporary dancer, frequently choreographs dance for operas at La Scala, and, aside from her many commissions as a choreographer, she also teaches contemporary dance at La Scala Ballet School and Milan’s Teatro Paolo Grassi school.
For Gemina Lux, Tagliavia was inspired by Apollo and Artemis, the powerful twin gods in Greek mythology, the children of Zeus and Leto. The choreography examines how two figures, initially unified and in symbiosis, gradually diverge as they embark on their different journeys.
From a single organism – a two-body creature whose parts intertwine and support each other – two identities gradually emerge: one, the embodiment of the Apollonian dimension, linked to order, measure and clarity; the other, recalling the wild and instinctive energy of Artemis, freedom, impulse and connection with nature.
The music is by the renowned Italian composer Giampaolo Testoni, who has created several pieces for Tagliavia, and the costumes are by Pierre Louis Mascia.
