Right

Associate Artist at Oriente Occidente for two years, in 2021 and 2022, Carlo Diego Massari, born in Bologna in 1984, has studied and worked internationally and is undoubtedly one of the most determined authors of the latest generation to want to tell the story of contemporary society with daring concreteness and imaginative interpretations. At the head of his C&C Company, the acronym of Corpo & Cultura, Body & Culture, since 2011, Massari has devoted himself to a biting and sarcastic “dance theatre”, replete with cross-cultural references. He likes to define his poetics as “amphibious”, capable of thriving in different environmental conditions. His performers use dance, words and songs to dialogue with the scenery, lights and music: everything is an integrated whole in his works with no frames or accompaniments. 

Over the last three years, Massari has been attracted by an inquiry into human bestiality, which led to his successful works Beast without Beauty, a crushing duet on the desire for power and oppression, and Les Misérables, a ruthless quartet in carrot-coloured wigs on the mediocrity surrounding us. He has now chosen to work on Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring to narrate a present in which moral rightness often falters. Right, a title that reflects both the multiple meanings of the word in English (straight, just, good, right hand) and, by similarity of pronunciation, the “Rite” of the Russian composer's famous ballet, which this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of his death.

Just like in Nijinsky-Stravinsky's 1913 Rite of Spring, the centre-piece of which was the propitiatory sacrifice of a virgin, in Right Massari investigates the contemporary propensity for sacrifice and the right to decide for others, which some, instead, claim for themselves. On the stage there are only girls representing not sacrificial victims but an entire denied generation, a denouncement of the exponential increase in cases of domestic violence against women during the pandemic. The choreographer throws himself fully into the piece and envisages a ruthless “carnage”. The performers do their utmost to make themselves necessary in order to survive, urged on by Stravinsky's rhythmic paroxysm, wisely analysed from the inside in both its score and original structure. «I try to establish a dialogue with Stravinsky's score and its many subtexts,» Massari comments. «Although Right features the entire orchestral composition, the various compositional blocks will be interspersed with certain events, which I don't want to reveal to you just yet». What is certain is that Massari certainly took his time in tackling this repertoire masterpiece and “reasoning” on bestiality, working for months with the performers to create Right with and not only for them.