La Tempesta
An international series of experimental music, dance and media performances in Italy and California using excerpts from Shakespeare’s The Tempest to reflect on relationships between humans and oceans.
One of his most frequently produced plays, William Shakespeare’s mystical masterwork The Tempest has spawned numerous adaptations and derivative works, including operas, films, novels and visual art.
La Tempesta was presented in Italy and California as part of Vortex, a 2016–2018 series of performance projects developed in collaboration with a transdisciplinary international group of artists, scholars and students. Our concept takes excerpts from the text of The Tempest, along with other sources, as inspiration to reflect on relationships between humans and oceans. Situating ourselves on Shakespeare’s mysterious island, we respond to contrasts and complexities of the coastal interface using music, dance and digital media projections.
In La Tempesta, eleven composers from Italy and USA contributed musical compositions, each based on one of the excerpts. Abstract screendance films by John Crawford with choreogrpher Lisa Naugle were projected with each section.
A partially staged workshop version with prerecorded video projections was performed in Bari, Italy in July 2016, and fully staged versions with live interactive video projections were presented in Bitonto, Italy in July 2017 and in Irvine, CA in October 2017.
First full performance July 2017.
Venues
- Contemporary Arts CenterIrvine, CA. October 2017.
- Teatro TraettaBitonto, Italy. July 2017.
- Teatro FormaBari, Italy. July 2016.