Do you want me to dance, or do you want me to talk?
Behind the question that Cristiana Morganti puts to her audience lies the key to understanding Jessica an Me. In this piece, the long-standing soloist of the Pina Baush Tanztheater of Wuppertal has reached a crucial moment in her professional development and is finally taking time out to reflect on herself, her relationship with her body and with the art of dance. She asks what it means “to be on stage” and examines the distinction between “the other” and “the self” which theatre inevitably creates.
The answer is a sort of Self-portrature told in two voices, those of the inner self (Me) and of her alter-ego (Jessica), in which, with piquant irony, Cristiana reveals a dancer’s on- and off-stage life journey, using a patchwork of gestures, shadows, muscles, tenacious grit and gentle irreverence, past memories and visions of the future.
Cast
Choreography and performance Cristiana Morganti
Artistic collaboration Gloria Paris
Light design Laurent P. Berger
Video Connie Prantera
Musical advice Kenji Takagi
Edit music Bernd Kirchhoefer
Technical director Jacopo Pantani
Audio & video technician Simone Mancini
Lighting technician Sgommino Berselli
Production il Funaro –‐ Pistoia (Italy) in collaboration with Fondazione I Teatri – Reggio Emilia (Italy)
Text: Italian / Overtitled: Spanish