Be the first to comment!ZfinMalta dance company embarks on first national tour, including Gozo
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ZfinMalta Dance Ensemble has said that a record 650 professional dancers from 25 countries have applied to audition for Malta’s first national dance company.
Paolo Mangiola , the dance company’s artistic director, remarked he had a tough time short-listing the applicants to a mere 50 females and 30 males and it would be a harder call to settle on the final choice during auditions held over the weekend.
Out of the 650 dancers, only six who applied were Maltese, a situation which Mr Mangiola said highlighted an urgent need for additional vocational training in Malta with artistic input from ZfinMalta.
“This would build on the strong training already in place, creating a specific progression route for gifted young Maltese dancers,” he said.
ZfinMalta is about to start its first national tour of Carmen, taking this successful contemporary dance adaption to four towns across Malta and Gozo.
Following the successful showing of its world premiere, which was seen by nearly 1,000 people in February, it is now going on tour to give audiences who would not normally frequent traditional theatres a taste of the beauty of contemporary dance.
As a national company, Mangiola said that he believes ZfinMalta has the responsibility to foster accessibility to dance, by making it exciting, challenging and unexpected.
The contemporary adaptation of this opera has been left in the able hands of Jose Agudo, the Spanish London-based choreographer, who chose this popular opera because he was captivated by the untamed spirit of Carmen.
The production has been set to an original music score by multi-percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger, with Yasmin Priyatmoko Bohn in the lead role.
Carmen is a complex story about individuality and sexual freedom, love and pleasure, and, ultimately, about death and a destiny of a gypsy woman.
Carmen will tour nationally in the following localities: the Astra Theatre, Victoria, Gozo, on April 30th and May 1; at St Agatha’s Auditorium, Rabat, Malta on Friday, April 13th; and at Teatru Pandora, Zejtun on April 21st. For tickets visit: http://zfinmalta.org or call 2099 4532.
