WE, THE ANGEL

2023

WE, the Angel, is a dance journey created especially for L’Angelo di Castello. A location performance that focuses on the angel and specifically the Angelus Novus: An image of an angel created by Paul Klee who, in philosopher Walter Benjamin's interpretation, faces the past. It’s spread wings catch the wind from paradise and the rising storm propels the angel forward into an uncertain adventure. There we come: Back to the Future. We spread our wings. The storm rises.

WE, the Angel is part of the WE-Cycle, a series of performances by choreographers Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten in which they present the wonder of the body in revolt and the way it can inspire us. The WE project is about the journey we undertake as humanity. It offers new perspectives in a rapidly changing world..

WE the Angel is a location project in Castel Sant'Angelo with 10 performers, including 7 dancers, 2 percussionists and 1 singer.

< website Museum Castel Sant'Angelo >

Supported by:

ANGELUS NOVUS - Paul Klee

Angelus Novus (New Angel) is a 1920 monoprint by the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee, using the oil transfer method he invented. It is now in the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.

Teaser & Credits

Concept en choreography: Emio Greco | Pieter C. Scholten
Performance: Denis Bruno, Dennis van Herpen, Victor Swank, Hiroki Nunogaki, Sixtine Biron, Jordaine Lincoln and Giacomo de Luca
Percussion: Agustinho Sequeira & Dániel Bolba
Video: Ruben van Leer
Sound: Salvador Breed
Costumes: Clifford Portier
Rehearsal director: Dereck Cayla
Technicians: Hugo van der Veldt, Israël Del Barco
Production: ICK Dans Amsterdam
Dates: Juni 29, 30 and July 1, 2023

Supported by:

Teaser by Luigi di Stano - Nisus Film