REACHING

Dive into the new work from Italian choreographer Michele Rizzo. REACHING unfolds the space hidden within and around ecstasy and euphoria, disclosing desires and frictions between individuals in an introspective and accelerating dance.

Rizzo has already translated the intoxicating energy of a rave party aesthetically and choreographically in his dance piece HIGHER (2015) and HIGHER xtn. (2018) for the Stedelijk Museum, which was adapted to the museum's location. Both pieces were a reflection on the history of dance, which has always been closely linked to religious rituals; after all, in various cultures dance is seen as a way of achieving transcendence. Rest (2020) will be followed by REACHING (2021), the third part of the trilogy in which Rizzo approaches dance and movement from the perspective of rave culture.

Rizzo developed the dance piece when the world had already been in the grip of the pandemic for some time, with all the social restrictions that went with it. REACHING has thus acquired an extra charge. Fourteen performers celebrate who they are: moving bodies, fundamentally alone, but connected in the desire to merge.

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The soundscape by Belgian composer and performance artist Billy Bultheel, increasingly louder in rhythm, is the driving force of the piece. The dancers approach each other cautiously at first, but gradually develop common dynamics. The pace of their movements quickens almost imperceptibly, moving from gentle steps to a climax. This transition from rest to upward power, from solitude to togetherness, makes tangible the longing for things that we may not be able to fully understand, but that define our humanity.

Michele Rizzo makes performances, mystical and dark at the same time, with a great visual impact. In them, he fuses elements of visual art, dance, and theatre. The choreographer sees his projects as a long saga, an ongoing form of storytelling that generates a new chapter each time. REACHING is Rizzo's biggest dance production so far.