The Same Dance
As many countries across the globe have slowly begun to lift certain precautionary measures, in an attempt to aid their struggling economies, social distancing remains a global issue. Naturally, those who can still choose to stay at home as much as possible. Yet, even though this is a time of separation for most of us, there is also a growing need for support, solidarity and togetherness, if only virtual, to alleviate the effects of social isolation. In addition, artists, lacking opportunities to perform live, have turned to the world wide web in the hope of generating some type of income, be it from online sales or livestream performances or to simply share their art and spread hope.
A few months ago, before the lockdown, we reported on renowned Italian seven-piece Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS) and their groundbreaking project "Solo Andata" in an article entitled "We Are All Migrants", which also appeared on our partner website Fairplanet. Led by violinist Mauro Durante, the influential folk music group continues to gather worldwide acclaim with its modern reinterpretations of ritual tarantella/taranta music or 'tarica pizzica', a percussion-driven folk dance originating in southern Italy, believed to cure the venomous bite of a tarantula spider through music, trance and dance.
Taking this idea of music and dance being a sort of antidote or means to exorcise the demons and working from his home, Mauro – with the help of several key supporters – recently launched his latest project entitled "We're All In The Same Dance", referencing Amnesty International Italy's #NessunoEscluso (transl. 'None Excluded') campaign. It's a video project, inviting dancers around the world to join in and face the current situation together. Conceived and developed by Mauro and dancer Silvia Perrone, director Gabriele Surdo then masterfully reassembled one hundred bodies and double the feet in a beautiful split-screen choreography:
"[This is a] hymn to life, an antidote to the privations of the lockdown," says Mauro. "Today, in the midst of the coronavirus emergency, a music comes out of the walls of a house in Puglia and crosses the world. [...] In no time, by word of mouth, dancers from all over Italy and across the world responded. They grabbed their smartphones and filmed themselves dancing. In their rooms, houses, on rooftops, balconies, on fire escapes... Everywhere. Everybody dancing to the same music. We're all in the same dance."
You can watch and rejoice in the beautiful, absolutely mesmerising audiovisual result below. Just think how even though the world and the people we love seem further apart and farther away than ever, we are actually more or less in the same situation, unified by a sort of equaliser that is unlike anything we've faced before. Yet, we still have the possibility to create and can always make the conscious choice to dance this dance together.
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