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Alum premieres work at Gender Bender International Festival

Wed 28 July 2021

Dance artist, teacher and 2018 graduate Massimo Monticelli interrogates truth, gender and representation in new solo.

2018 graduate Massimo Monticelli has choreographed new contemporary dance solo Cassandra, or, the Truth in response to the current abundance of fake news and lack of faith in science.

In the work, Massimo performs as Cassandra, the cursed Trojan prophetess. By overlaying the male body on top of a female voice Massimo wants to encourage reflection on questions about gender and representation. Through the contrast he also explores how truth is told, listened to, accepted, or rejected.

The 35-minute work was developed by Massimo across a series of residencies earlier this year, with the help of fellow TL dance alumni Tommy Cattin and Giordana Patumi.

It has roots in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon and Christa Wolf’s work and features an original live score by Marco Pedrazzi, a young composer who was recently commissioned by the Venice Music Biennale.

Massimo will premiere Cassandra, or, the Truth on 13 September 2021 at Italy’s celebrated annual Gender Bender International Festival in Bologna.

The dance artist and creator comments –

“This is a wonderful opportunity as Gender Bender International Festival is one of the most important dance festivals in Italy.”

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