When Rachel Davidman and Giulio Perrone met on a flight last year from Tucson to Oakland, something between them clicked – in a creative, artistic sense. Rachel is an Argentine tango and salsa dancer; Guilio a theater playwright, designer, and director. “He was reading this book about Quantum Theory and explained to me how he wants to transform the idea of modern physics into a theater play,” says Rachel. For her part she shared with him her lifelong passion for dance both as a social dancer and as an occasional choreographer. They discovered very similar underlying experiences in dance and theater, and by the time they got off the plane, they felt they had established a deep connection.
A few months later she received a call from him, asking her if she wanted to be part of the upcoming experimental theater festival Diasporas as a tango dancer, and if she would like to put together a piece with her own group of dancers. “I was thrilled,” recalls Rachel. “It was something I’ve always wanted to do!” She carefully selected a handful of people with whom she personally enjoyed dancing and whom she trusted to share her ideas of performing an improvised piece in a rather unusual setting. “I was looking for dancers who are open-minded rather than perfectionists.”
The newly formed Argentine tango ensemble now consists of five members and it is called Conmigo Connect. Rachel characterizes the group as a ‘pop-up dance company’. The piece they are going to perform is called Y dance? For the music she chose five songs that “make me move” — a few are nuevo-tango pieces rather than traditional tango music. One of them is Mi Confesión by Gotan Project. It’s a song with layers of different rhythms, and since hearing it for the first time she had a vision of dancers moving to it – and one, she confesses, that makes her get up at home and dance.
“The whole piece is really an eclectic mix of five songs with a voice overlay,” she says. “The transitions between the partnering dances are linked with solo performances by modern dancer Robin Fletcher.” The partnering dance parts are not choreographed. Rachel had certain concepts in mind, particularly the concept of lead and follow. “But what I want to show more than anything else is the connection in Argentine tango.”
“Don’t expect a flashy piece,” she says. Instead of a grand Forever Tango-like show, the dancers want to share with the audience what they do, why they are doing this, and why tango is part of their daily lives, and they want to invite the audience to share their passion.
So how does this fit into the Diasporas theater festival?
“Tango is just electric,” says Giulio Perrone, artistic director and producer of the festival, smiling. “It just opens up everything. Plus,” he adds, “I like movement. “
The Disaporas festival is indeed a mix of theater, solo performances, and dance groups. It does not reflect an ethnic diaspora, but is rather, Perrone goes on to explain, ”…about people being together and wanting to work together.” It is therefore also about the connection between different forms of the art and performances, just like the message that the Conmigo Connect tango group wants to convey. It is a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary festival, whose mission is to link cultures and explore human relationships in space and time.
In space and time? — “Yes,” Perrone says, “this year’s production is about how we perceive space and time. This piece of experimental theater, which is also a part of the festival, revolves around ‘the quantum of the room’ — the idea that everybody is part of the room.” Quantum Desire is the second part of a trilogy based on Quantum Theory — the theoretical basis of modern physics that continues both to fascinate and inspire him to transform new ideas into the theater.
“It sounds a bit – well, experimental, right?” I ask. – “Theater here is very safe”, Perrone states, “People want theater to be linear. They want a story, and no experiments. They want nothing that leads to misunderstanding, nothing that’s circular, and nothing that’s abstract.”
Aside from being the mastermind behind the Diasporas festival, Guilio Perrone is the creator and producing artistic director of the experimental theater ensemble Inferno Theatre in Berkeley, California. He attended the respected fine-arts Accademia di Brera in his native country, Italy, where theater, since the early days of the Commedia dell’Arte, has evolved as the ‘craft of improvisation’ – nothing like the linear story-telling of American theater that Perrone almost commiseratively talks about. Having been an active part of American theater, both as a director and designer, for many years, he decided it was time for him to start his own project. He named it quite provocatively Inferno Theatre, relating, of course, to the famous epic poem by Dante Alighieri. “Inferno Theatre is a place where people can do what they want,” he explains. “Our pieces are different from consequential pieces which are designed to keep the audience’s attention. People have a shorter attention span now than in Shakespeare’s time when a play might go on for days at a time.”
Perrone has written and produced three original productions for the company every year since they started in 2010. Having successfully toured Europe with his own productions prior to starting Inferno, his ambition is to take the company overseas.
During the three-day long Diasporas festival in early May, in Berkeley, the company performs only parts of their Quantum Desire production. The piece in its entire length will be shown during the San Francisco International Arts Festival at Fort Mason from May 27 through June 5. More information and tickets can be found at http://www.sfiaf.org/inferno_theatre.
Rachel Davidman and her Argentine tango group, Conmigo Connect, perform on two evenings of the Diasporas festival on May 6th and 7th. The festival itself runs from May 6th to the 8th in the South Community Church in Berkeley. Tickets and more information can be found at: http://infernotheatre.org/diasporas-festival-2016/