INFO
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Music: Pedro Alcalde / Sergio Caballero
Choreographer: Nacho Duato
Set and Costumes: Nacho Duato
Lighting: Brad Fields
Premiered by the Compañía Nacional de Danza (CND)
Venue: Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid
Date: 27th January 2005
BACKGROUND
After the premiere of Herrumbre, centred on the theme of torture, we decided to create as a contrast, a piece inspired by the simplicity and the apparent lightness of Japanese haiku. Maxence Fermine’s book Neige (1999), by way of its main character Yuko Akita, creator of haikus, led us to the theme of snow.
TITLE
The title “Diecisiete” (“Seventeen”) refers to the number of syllables in Japanese haiku. Haikus do not rhyme; the only formal rule is that they should have three verses and a total of 17 syllables.
MUSIC
The haiku’s poetic impulse, irrespective of the season it refers to, is always infused with winter’s breath. Its gaze towards nature or every day life is always nostalgic.
In the construction of the music we included voices, used as a narrative, opening doors to different viewpoints on the concept of snow.
The formal scheme of the composition consists of seventeen sound haikus and a finale.
SOUND PALETTE
Nacho Duato: “They captured sounds in Japan, sounds of birds, cicadas, snow and interviewed Japanese people asking them what does snow mean for them. It is a very different music, sound, to what we have used until now and this has allowed another vocabulary to surface ”
MEDIUM
Audio-CD
DURATION
28’
PERFORMANCES
27-01-2005 Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid Spain 9
07-05-2005 Festspielehaus Bregenz Austria 2
13-05-2005 Hessisches Theater Wiesbaden Germany 2
09-06-2005 Teatro Principal Valencia Spain 6
08-07-2005 C. C. Olga Cadaval Sintra Portugal 2
Total performances 21
AUDIO
VIDEO
INFO
This was one of the few times that I have been able to witness a precise aesthetic balance between music and dance.
Madrid Teatro – José Ramón Díaz Sande link
Creative dialogues impose themselves over simple imitation. Duato’s work with Alcalde and Caballero is to be found in this intellectual and aesthetic orbit. (…) The young audience cheered the show in each of its parts and surrendered to the bewitching beauty of Diecisiete, a complex and disturbing piece of work, which is also mysterious and subtle, and that integrates of music and truly seductive scenery.
El País – Juan Ángel Vela del Campo (28-01-2005) pdf
The most appealing piece of the night came from the premiere of “Diecisiete”. The balance between very well-made music by Pedro Alcalde and Sergio Caballero and choreography with notable oriental influence that gels well with the whole performance.
La Razón – Luis G. Iberni (01-02-2005) pdf
Paisajes coreográficos: La nieve cae generosamente sobre el escenario del auditorio Olga Cadaval. Ese cuadro final de la pieza Diecisiete – los amantes envueltos en el manto blanco de la nieve – cerró poéticamente la presentación de la Compañía Nacional de Danza dirigida por Nacho Duato, tornándose una de las imágenes más fuertes de un programa marcado por la musicalidad de los movimientos de los intérpretes, por el rigor de la interpretación y por la poesía.
DT – Expresso, Sintra (16-07-2005) link
