María Muñoz and Pep Ramis / Mal Pelo
| Direction: | María Muñoz y Pep Ramis |
| Management Collaboration: | Leo Castro y Federica Porello |
| Creation and interpretation: | Jordi Casanovas, María Muñoz, Zuriñe Benavente, Pep Ramis, Federica Porello, Enric Fàbregas y Zoltan Vakulya |
| Music: | Goldberg Variations / Variations, de Dan Tepfer, sobre las Variaciones Goldberg, de J.S. Bach |
| Poems: | John Berger |
| Illumination: | August Viladomat |
| Sound space: | Fanny Thollot |
| Costume: | CarmePuigdevalliPlantéS |
| Design and construction set design: | Kike Blanco |
| Sound technician: | Andreu Bramón |
| Lighting technique: | Irene Ferrer |
| Video on stage: | Martí Ramis |
| Photo report: | Tristán Pérez-Martín |
| Management: | Gemma Massó |
| Distribution: | Eduard Teixidor |
| Production: | Mal Pelo, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Dansa Quinzena Metropolitana
de Barcelona and Icec-Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya With the collaboration of: L'animal a l'esquena y Théâtre Archipel de Perpinyà Premiere: Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, 28 & 31 March 2019 |
| Thanks: | Yves Berger, Pilar Vázquez, Teresa Pintó - Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells, Lali Bosch, Carlota Subirós, Laura Baena and Josep Cots - Edicions de 1984, Claude Annick |
| Show dedicated to John Berger, who has accompanied us again with his words and his gaze. | |
“There's no lack of poetry or humour in this piece that is also an ironic musing on the animalistic side of man and their fragility against the infinite”.Valèria Gaillard, El Periódico
The Catalan dance company Mal Pelo has spent 30 years researching and developing a language of its own. Its personal relation with the work of the German composer Johann S. Bach began with BACH, the 2004 show that made the rounds of theatres all over the world. It was the first piece of the Bach Project, a larger project of complete and deep diving into this Baroque musical genius that the troupe estimates will be completed in 2021.
Meanwhile, 2019 witnesses the launch of On Goldberg Variations / Variations, where Mal Pelo continues its dialogue with the different aspects of one of the indisputable totems of classical music. "It's not just the technique, but also a dive into the sentiment, a search for that which lies beyond the structure and the form", states Pep Ramis, co-founder of the company along with Maria Muñoz.
Concretely, Goldberg Variations is a musical composition for the piano created by Bach in 1741, consisting of an aria, 30 variations and a reprise of the aria. What links them all is not a common melody but a background of harmonic variations. The French-American composer and musician Dan Tepfer (Paris 1982) suggests the Goldberg Variations combined with his own improvised variations. A proposal that took shape as a recital in 2011: Goldberg Variations / Variations.
The challenge faced by Mal Pelo in On Goldberg Variations / Variations is based precisely on Dan Tepfer's reinterpretation: "We want to take our search one step ahead from Bach's music transported to choreographic creation".
From the study of Baroque music and its relation to movement, space and choreographic dramaturgy, the Catalan company continues to delve into levels unrevealed until now. Bach Project is thus, the umbrella project that hosts the research carried out during three years of a multi-focused study on movement and the works of the German composer.
Mal Pelo was founded in 1989 by the stage director, dancer and actor Pep Ramis (Manacor, 1962) and the choreographer and dancer María Muñoz (Valencia, 1963). They have presented, among other shows: Quarere (1989), Sur, Perros del sur (1992), La calle del imaginero (1996), Orache (1998), L'animal a l'esquena (2001), An el silenci (2003), BACH (2004), All the names (2010), Caín & Caín (2011), La esperanza de vida de una liebre (2013), The fifth winter (2015) and The Mountain, the Truth and the Paradise (2017).
The Catalan company has received several awards, such as the Premio Nacional de Danza 2009, the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona 2017 for dance, and the Premio de la Crítica Barcelona 2018 for Bach.
Additionally, in 2001, Pep Ramis and María Muñoz promoted the establishment of L'animal a l'esquena, a centre for creation and interdisciplinary exchange in a country home in Celrà (Girona), which encourages the exchange of ideas between stage directors, musicians, video artists, theorists and dancers.