A leading company in the Italian scene for twenty-five years, carrying forward the artistic vision of Roberto Zappalà, a Catanese choreographer who has uniquely narrated 'his' Sicily through the bodies and founded a center of excellence for contemporary dance in Catania: Scenario Pubblico, recently recognized by the Ministry as a national production center.
Instrument 1 <discovering the invisible> was born as the first stage of a project that Zappalà has been developing for almost five years, focusing on the exploration of unusual musical instruments rarely used in solo form. The protagonist of this abstract and highly impactful piece is the marranzano (commonly known as the jaw harp), a traditional Sicilian instrument often associated with the mafia, played on stage by his faithful collaborator Puccio Castrogiovanni – leader of the musical group I Lautari – who enhances its possible rhythmic and acoustic variations. Alongside him are seven male dancers from the Compagnia Zappalà Danza, interpreting with vigor a limitless Sicily, where tradition and modernity intersect, find common ground, and merge.
It is with Instrument 1 <discovering the invisible> that Roberto Zappalà has initiated “re-mapping Sicily,” a choreographic journey through which he intends to reinterpret Sicily with his personal scenic language. That Sicily, as Gesualdo Bufalino recalled, “does not exist, because there are a hundred Sicilies, and each has as many interpretations.” To interpret, one needs tools, and the performance literally and metaphorically takes on the task of selecting one: the marranzano. An instrument that opens paths, that serves as a means to “fish in the sea of sweet and dark Sicily.”
