MM Contemporary Dance Company (IT)

MM Contemporary Dance Company was founded in 1999 by Michele Merola, who, among other things, worked as a dancer with Aterballetto and at the Opéra de Toulon, has received numerous awards, and has also been creating works for other companies since 2000.

Enrico Morelli, a member of the MM Company as a dancer and choreographer since 2004, and Mauro Bigonzetti, the long-time artistic director of Aterballetto, take the audience on a journey across generations this evening: Bigonzetti’s “Ballade,” bearing the choreographer’s typically powerful signature style, is a portrait of the 1980s, a decade that left a lasting mark with its aesthetics and political events.

“Elegia” by Morelli, on the other hand, draws parallels to our present time, which—as rarely before—brings with it confusion and upheaval, but also the hope for a new beginning. In 2022, the company was awarded the Danza&Danza Prize for the best Italian production and is now coming to Leverkusen for the first time.

Information

Featuring the choreographies “Elegia” by Enrico Morelli and “Ballade” by Mauro Bigonzetti ; lighting design by Carlo Cerri and Nuvia Valestri; costumes by Silvia Califano ; music by Frédéric Chopin , Giuseppe Villarosa, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Frank Zappa, Nick Cave, Arvo Pärt, Nina Simone, and others. Music (recorded tracks)

6:45 p.m.: Physical Introduction (hands-on dance introduction) in the Terrassensaal