Review: Carnaval Vivaldi – Balletto di Roma’s beautiful but flimsy carnival

The world premiere of Balletto di Roma’s Carnaval Vivaldi begins intriguingly with shadow play: the dancers behind a white, gauzy backcloth, with torches illuminating them from behind, casting silhouettes… zooming in, fading out.  After a while, in profile, it becomes clear they are wearing carnival masks. First one, then two, three… eight dancers of the company come and go. And still they are coming and going… and still…

The lack of rhythm in Chiara Ameglio’s beautiful-looking but flimsy hour-long work was evident during the first ten minutes. And until the halfway mark, there was nothing that showed off the company’s talent – for talent there was – as they walked, occasionally ran, formed into little groups, did some RuPaul strutting, and generally performed movements that half the audience could have managed with a week of rehearsal. The choreographic vocabulary was very modest.

But its ambitions were anything but modest. Here is a translation from the programme notes:

It is only through an acceptance of transience and the liberating ecstasy of a shared madness that the protagonists cast off their masks, revealing a state of radical equality. Faced with our shared finitude, all pretence crumbles; differences no longer exist. In absolute darkness, the utopia of rebirth gives rise to a new, fragile genesis.

Well, OK.

When they cast off their masks, they cast off their kit too, down to flesh-coloured dance belts and bras, and in the last ten minutes, things warm up physically. It must be said that they are a superbly toned company.

The women are largely sidelined (one is featured slowly removing her mask, but that’s about it), while three of the men, about half an hour in, finally get the chance to do something athletic – there are even Italian fouettés from one of them.

There are many well-worn tricks in Carnaval Vivaldi – silver confetti descending from the grid; pointing, staring and laughing at the audience – but a nice touch is the use of bang snaps (those small explosives kids throw at the pavement) to force one of the characters to hop and dance. This was because, according to the programme, “the masked figures seek the King of Carnival, the victim to be sacrificed to purify the community”. Although he is left exhausted on the ground, he is not sacrificed: “guilt no longer lies with a single individual; it spreads, multiplies and permeates the entire community. Everyone is guilty, everyone is a victim, everyone is expendable.”

Luca Salvadori’s soundscape is mystical, with the appearance of La Follia (nicely reworked), a Jakub Józef Orliński recording slipping in and out of an echo chamber, and, as the title demands, various Vivaldi pieces are included in the montage. Emanuele De Maria’s lighting design is extremely effective, and Elena Rossi’s white costumes jazz up familiar elements of carnival and commedia dell’arte clothing, conical hats, ruffs and corsets, with Alessandra Faienza’s colourful masks.

Ameglio is described in the publicity as one of the most interesting and promising emerging figures in Italian dance. Maybe this is just a blip in her creative output.