RASA [after La Bayadère]

Following creations for the Vienna State Ballet and the Norwegian National Ballet, this new take on La Bayadère is Daniel Proietto’s first full-length work. The choreographer creates a completely contemporary reading based on his fascination for the harmony that plays a central role in Marius Petipa’s original ballet. Proietto studied Petipa’s original source material, namely Gustave Doré’s illustrations for Dante’s Divina Commedia.

The twisted sculpted bodies of the damned souls inspired Proietto to see harmony in chaos.

Daniel Proietto reinterprets the tradition of the Indian devadasi, the original temple dancers (or bayadères) and the movement idiom of their sacred dances. The anchor point of his vision lies in Indian art philosophy and, in particular, the age-old ambiguous concept of rasa. It indicates an overpowering experience of a work of art that brings about the manifestation of a universal self-image.

Daniel Proietto is interested in how the human and the divine can be linked within the multicultural landscape of the world today. Both Proietto in his choreography and Mikael Karlsson in his new score seek the universal essence that connects East and West.