13 october 2023

GIRLS & BOYS
ŻfinMalta National Dance Company / Roy Assaf

Friday 13 october 2023, 8.00 PM
NOVA GORICA, SNG SLOVENE NATIONAL THEATRE

ŻfinMalta / Roy Assaf

GIRLS & BOYS

National Premiere


by Roy Assaf    
with Pearl Calleja, Lidia Caricasole, Noemi Coin, Martí Blanco Romeu, Matteo Bellio Real, Lotte La Haye, Jérémie Lafon, Keith Micallef, Simon Riccardi-Zani, Amber Van Veen
Music Bob Dylan, Uri Caine, Takagi Masakatsu, Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee, Perez Prado, Jeff Barry, Richard Wagner, Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher, Robert Hazard, Meade “lux” Lewis, Reggie Watts, Jean Sibelius, Schubert
Artistic director Paolo Mangiola
Duration 55’

Girls&Boys overturns gender dynamics and roles in a performance that is both playful and provocative.
Five girls and five boys are the protagonists of a complicated dialogue, with society’s expectations weighing invisibly, powerfully, inevitably on their shoulders.
More than stereotypes or gender fluidity, Girls&Boys is about the “brainwashing” of how males and females should think, speak, dress and act.
“A white, straight, male choreographer. That’s how some people define me. This human tendency to over-generalise is at the heart of Girls&Boys”.
Roy Assaf

Established in 2014, the ŻfinMalta National Dance Company has quickly become one of the Country’s leading Public Cultural Organisations, at the forefront of Malta’s contemporary art scene.
Directed by Paolo Mangiola, the company collaborates with the best dancers and choreographers of Malta, providing a space for artists to develop and take risks, contributing to an open and expansive dance ecology in Malta and abroad, and providing opportunities for aspiring, emerging and established dance professionals to reach their potential.

interview

The full-length performance of “Girls&Boys” will be presented for the first time in Italy during the Visavì Gorizia Dance Festival. It is described as a playful and provocative performance that overturns gender dynamics and roles. In this national premiere, what do you most want to convey/tell the audience?
I want to tell the audience to be kind to one another, to discover patience in challenging moments, to question their patterns, to get friendly with the unknown, to let go of sacred cows, to rebel when needed, to compromise when needed, to get lost on purpose sometimes, to be aware of the value of boredom and that everything in and around us is temporary. 

Describe your show in three words:
Let me think

Tell us why we should come and see it:
You should come and see the show without question and regardless of how much pleasure it will give you or suffering it will cause you. You should come in order to support art in general and the form of contemporary dance specifically, which is something that is really needed in society. 

According to your personal experience, a border is:
An object between two countries

As if you should explain it to a child: why have you started dancing?
Every time I was happy I felt the need to dance. Every time I heard music I felt the need to dance. Every time I felt sad or excited or bored or restless or angry or energetic - I felt the need to dance.

A piece of advice to a starting company:
Take a big breath before you start.

A project by:

In partnership with:
SNG Teatro Nazionale Sloveno di Nova Gorica

With the support of:
Ministero della Cultura / Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia / Io sono FVG
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Gorizia

In collaboration with:
Comune di Gorizia / Comune di Cormons / Comune di Gradisca d’Isonzo / ERPAC / APT / Ente Regionale Teatrale del FVG / Fondazione Palazzo Coronini Cronberg onlus Goriški Muzej / Confcommercio Imprese per l'Italia Gorizia Kulturni Dom Gorica / Kulturni Center Lojze Bratuž Palazzo del Cinema-Hiša Filma di Gorizia / PAN ADRIA network / TIARE Shopping

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