Naupaca Dance Factory is to present ‘The Death of Snow White; A Tragedy in 7 Days.’ The performance is a contemporary dance interpretation based on the story of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ as told by the Brothers Grimm.

The first performance is set to take place on Saturday the 1st of December 2012 at the Aurora Opera House, Victoria, Gozo and will then be performed on two nights, the 7th and 9th of December, at The Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta.

Referring to the significance and meanings contained within myths and rites of initiation and death, Naupaca Dance Factory’s The Death of Snow White reaffirms the Brothers Grimm’s story as a tale of wonder, yet reconsiders the functional unity of the fairy tale, in order to reveal the darker vision of the human condition repressed within it.

The Death of Snow White rereads the function and nature of dance itself, as it does not present the medium as a celebratory expression of bodily movement, but as a means through which the enthropic nature of the dead and the dying body could be explored, as it presents physical beings that are unable to escape and move beyond the liminal phases of existence.

Naupaca Dance Factory said that “the scenario offered is one in which the conventions of narratology and narrative are broken down, in which time and the passage of time becomes a malleable and controllable object. Plot takes precedence over story, as the happenings of the tale remain faithful to those found within the source text by the Brothers Grimm, yet unfold in an achronological manner.

“Ultimately, what The Death of Snow White explores is the act of telling a story rather than story itself. The story has no setting, or rather, it is set in a timeless space; the stage is a space of liminality. However, not all notions of historicity and specificity are rejected.

“The choreographic and dramatic material contained within The Death of Snow White presents and explores a sense of antithetical tension which exists between the mythic and the sacred, between the secular and the sublime. The Death of Snow White manifests this tension in terms of both a clash and a fusion between Western and Eastern aesthetics and modes of representation. The patterns and rites of ordeal, death and resurrection are analysed not just as a mythological and religious analogy of the fairy tale, but also as an underlying structure informing all religious narratives.”

The Death of Snow White is a fairy tale, and as with all fairy tales, it can only happen if rules are followed. The following can only be staged if these three conditions are respected:

“Every scene is an exploration of death. Every moving body is dying. Time is malleable,” the Dance Factory said.

The artistes in the production are, Marise Grech as Snow White, Deborah Agius as The Queen. Stepan Pechar as The Prince, Yana Dimech as The Mirror and Denise Buttigieg is Tempastas.

The Death of Snow White is Directed and Choreographed by Joeline Tabone, Production Management by Deborah Agius, Production Design and Costumes by Luke Azzopardi, Script by Maria Theuma and the Original Music Score is by Lukas Grech.

For details on ticket prices and bookings for all performances please send an email to contact@naupacadanceacademy.com with a name and surname, number of seats and any specific seating preferences. The seating plan can be found here for the Aurora Opera House

Permalink: ‘The Death of Snow White’ this December in Gozo and Malta