lorenzo gleijeses

A performance evoking the nostalgic and bewildering dimension of travelling by conceiving the quintessential non-place of arrival and waiting. On stage, Lorenzo Gleijeses and Manolo Muoio directed by Luigi De Angelis and Michele Di Stefano; produced by Körper and Gitiesse Artisti Riuniti.

Corcovado is a performance resulting from research and exploration carried out by Lorenzo Gleijeses with Luigi De Angelis and Michele Di Stefano. In terms of direction and choreography, they drew inspiration from the anthropological dimension of travelling and the nostalgic longing for an “Elsewhere” by recreating the quintessential non-place: the baggage reclaim area of an airport somewhere in the world. A space of waiting, arrival and transition, anonymity and brief encounter, engaging with a present connected with distant exotic worlds. An in-between, borderline place, an interstitial gateway arising from the concept of dromoscopy.
Invited by Lorenzo Gleijeses (who created the 58° Parallelo project), Luigi De Angelis and Michele Di Stefano have made their own – in a stage situation – the notion of bewilderment underlying dromoscopy – a word coined by philosopher Paul Virilio – starting from his considerations on the current vision of travelling, which engulfed the former notions of exploration and journey for a rapid, nearly instantaneous movement. “Let’s consider two trains on parallel tracks. A train is at rest. When you sit in one of them, it is often difficult to realize which train is actually moving”. According to Virilio, this feeling is an example of dromoscopy.

The staging: Lorenzo Glejieses (actor and performer) is in the middle of a dizzying agon where both the body and the choreographic gesture become objects on display among the many objects on stage, projecting a sense of longing and someone else’s dream: traces, memories, waste, in the paroxysmal theory of an all-consuming and all-reducing gaze machine, in an obsessive, deadly, epiphanic bustle of “gestures-things”, “objects-things”, “body-things” where it is impossible to reach a comforting outcome. As counterpart and creator of the dream, the constant presence of a silent guardian (Manolo Muoio, actor and performer), a loving caretaker and secret genius loci taking care of and waiting for its multiple epiphanies.
If departure and arrival are the only surviving elements of travelling in the hyper-fast contemporary world, CORCOVADO focuses on the notions of “journey” and “exploration”, leaving the essential seeds of meaning and shape to the process itself. It’s deconstruction and reconstruction of the creative process at the same time, taking the opportunity to highlight the possible changing view and its imaginary power. At the very heart of Corcovado lies the blatant desire to let go and become a “thing” among “things”, embracing a centrifugal vertigo and the dystopia of unpredictable changing view.

Along with An ordinary day in the life of the dancer Gregor Samsa, Corcovado is part of the 58° Parallelo Nord project (58th Parallel North) created by Lorenzo Gleijeses.
It all started in Spring 2015 with some preparatory previews and study (presented in several festivals, including Naples Theatre Festival ). This project brought together – in a kind of “open theatre workshop” – Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley (Odin Teatret), Luigi De Angelis and Chiara Lagani (Fanny & Alexander), Michele Di Stefano and Biagio Caravano (MK), actively intervening in separate work sessions on performative material proposed by Lorenzo Gleijeses and musician Mirto Baliani. This exploration stage resulted in two independent production projects: An ordinary day in the life of the dancer Gregor Samsa, the first creation by Eugenio Barba (co-directed by Lorenzo Gleijeses) outside of Odin Teatret, on tour this season, and Corcovado directed by Luigi De Angelis and Michele Di Stefano.

Luigi De Angelis was born in Bruxelles in 1974. He is director, set and lighting designer, and musician.
As a child he moved to Italy together with his family and in 1992 he found the company Fanny & Alexander.
Since 2010 he lives again in Belgium.
 His work and projects are always influenced by the interrelation between music, sound space and scenic space, arising from visual arts and contemporary music repertoire.
His work has been represented in Italy and in international festivals including: Biennale Teatro di Venezia, Santarcangelo dei Teatri, Volterra Teatro, Drodesera, Napoli Teatro Festival, Ravenna Festival, Festival delle Colline Torinesi, KunstenFestivaldesArts (Bruxelles, Belgium), Bitef (Beograd, Serbia), Eurokaz e Music Zagreb Biennal (Zagabria, Croatia), Mess Festival (Sarajevo, Bosnia), Mostra Sesc Des Artes (San Paulo, Brazil), Norderzone (Groningen, Netherlands), Kampnagel (Hamburg, Germany), Sophiensaele (Berlin, Germany), Flying Circus Project (Singapore), Aylul Festival (Beirut, Lebanon), Festival di Tampere (Finland), Perfect Performance (Stochkolm, Sweden). His productions received several international recognitions: Bitef International Festival of Beograd Special Prize of the Jury, Music Theatre Now 2013 (Jonkonping, Sweden), 2 times UBU Theatre Prize in Italy. Between 2011 and 2013 together with the Italian-Argentinian artist Sergio Policicchio he composed the Soundscape Symphony of the city of Ravenna which was published in the cd collection by Tempo Reale, the Foundation of Luciano Berio in Firenze. This concert-installation has been presented in many cities in Italy (Milan, Rome, Salerno, Ravenna) and was chosen by the municipality of Ravenna as the project to be presented to the Artistic European Commission during the final competition for the European Cultural Capital 2019. In may 2015 he directed and designed (set and lighting) Die Zauberflöte by W. A. Mozart at the Teatro Comunale of Bologna, Italy, conducted by Michele Mariotti.
 In August 2015 he was invited by Muziektheater Transparant to direct JOP2015 at De Singel, Antwerpen, a campus for young musicians and singers. The final work of the workshop was presented to the audience at the Theaterstudio of De Singel. In October 2015 he created the concept and lighting design together with Sergio Policicchio for a concert/performance combining 8 electronic compositions by the Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi and collaborating with Spectra Ensemble from Gent and the sound designers of  Tempo Reale from Italy. This production in 2017 will be invited to Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Sesc in Sao Paulo Brasil and the Festival of Glasgow in Scottland. In 2017 he has been invited to direct a performance inspired on Diaghilev in collaboration with Kaleidoskope Ensemble in Berlin: this production was commissioned by Klara Festival and was presented in Bruges (Concertgebauw), Bruxelles (Bozar), Antwerp (DeSingel), and Berlin.
In August of the same year he directed the new production of Orfeo viajero, music by Claudio Monteverdi, this was presented at DeSingel “Translab”, organised by Muziektheater Transparant (conductor Hernan Schvartzman and the soloists of Muziektheater Jongerenopera). The following year he has been re-invited to direct Les Indes Galantes. For Festival Monteverdi 2019 in Cremona (Teatro Ponchielli) he revived the production of Orfeo nel metro in collaboration with the Civica Scuola di Milano Claudio Abbado.

Michele Di Stefano, formerly singer in a punk/new wave band during the late 80’s , he’s been carrying out since then a personal research into movement, becoming the choreographer and founder of the contemporary dance group mk (2000).
The group operates through different formats and collaborations and is considered one of the most lively research ensemble of the Italian scene, with performances and constant presence in many countries.
Michele Di Stefano is the guest curator for the “Outdoor” program of the Bolzano Danza Festival 2018 and the GIACIMENTA contemporary program for Matera European Capital of Culture 2019.
He is the artistic director of AngeloMai Italia Tropici, an irregular platform for live arts in Rome, the co-curator for the dance program Grandi Pianure at Teatro di Roma-National Theatre. Starting 2019 he created a new program for performing arts (BUFFALO) at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, the biggest exhibition venue in the center of Rome.
He received choreographic commissions by Aterballetto, Balletto di Toscana, the Dance and Theatre Biennale in Venice and the Korean National Contemporary Dance Company.
He published with Margherita Morgantin Agenti autonomi e sistemi multiagente , a book of choreographic instructions and meteorological reports (Quodlibet 2012).
He is the performer in Joseph_kids by Alessandro Sciarroni.
In 2000 and 2018 he receives the “Danza&Danza” Award for contemporary dance and the UBU Prize for the performance “Bermudas” in 2019.
He has been awarded the Silver Lion for innovation in dance at the IX BiennaleDanza 2014 in Venice.
Starting 2020 he is one of the resident artists at Teatro India in Rome.

Lorenzo Gleijeses (Naples, 1980) made his theatre debut in 1991 with his father Geppy and Regina Bianchi (one of the most representative actresses of Eduardo De Filippo and Raffaele Viviani’s company). At an early age, he had the opportunity to work and train with the following directors: Luigi Squarzina, Armando Pugliese, Roberto Guicciardini (founder of Gruppo della Rocca). From 2000 to 2004 he explored different types of theatre pedagogies, working with many international masters, including Lindsay Kemp, Eimuntas Nekrosius, Yoshi Oida, Odin Teatret, the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski, Augusto Omolù, MK. Since 2001 he’s been a pupil of Julia Varley, a long-lasting member of Odin Teatret. They created Il figlio di Gertrude (Gertrude’s son) which earned him the 2006 Ubu Award for Best New Actor and a Best Newcomer nomination at the Oscar Olimpici del Teatro-Premi ETI. Lorenzo has worked in theater with Alfredo Arias, Eugenio Barba, Michele Di Stefano, Fanny & Alexander, Nikolaj Karpov, Andrej Konchalovskij, Cesare Lievi, Mario Martone, Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella, Luigi Squarzina, Rafael Spregelburd, Julia Varley, among others.
Lorenzo has played many characters of the classic repertoire on stage, including Romeo, Hamlet, the Prince of Homburg, Uncle Vanya, Harlequin, Mozart in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, Shakespeare’s Henry V-Prince Hal, Woyzeck and Leonce (in Büchner’s Leonce and Lena).
His works have been hosted in some of the most representative theatre spaces and festivals nationwide. His works have also been presented abroad, more specifically in France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland and Argentina. Lorenzo has directed several workshops in different universities and theatre centres, such as the DAMS in Bologna and Turin, Teatro di Roma, Mercadante Theatre in Naples, Teatro Stabile di Calabria, Punta Corsara project, the National Theatre School /Mercadante. From 2009 to 2011 he was the creator and artistic director of Quirino Revolution MAD, an international festival which opened the historic Roman theatre to theatre experimentation and new language research in performing arts. In his performances, he has directed Antonio Rezza, Kinkaleri, Ivo Dimchev, Marco Manchisi, Enzo Cosimi, Marilù Prati and Renato Nicolini, Biagio Caravano/Sigourney Weaver, Gianfranco Berardi, Vidal Bini, Stella Zannou, Maya Lipsker, Roy Carroll, Pietro Babina, Carol Allaire, Zapruder Filmmakersgroup, among others… In his years of film acting, Lorenzo has worked with Matteo Rovere, Michele Placido, Kim Rossi Stuart, Marco Tullio Giordana, Gabriele Lavia and Martone again…
In 2015 he created 58° Parallelo Nord (58th Parallel North). In this new project developed and directed by Lorenzo, dromoscopy and bewilderment are presented as a possible ground for the artistic exchange in a shared creative process challenging the monocratic role of the demiurge artist. Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley (Odin Teatret), Michele Di Stefano and Biagio Caravano (MK), Luigi De Angelis and Chiara Lagani (Fanny & Alexander), Mirto Baliani and Roberto Crea are some of the fellow artists involved in this journey. This work brought them together in a kind of open theatre workshop. This shared creative process completed in 2020 resulted in two different stage performances starring Lorenzo: An ordinary day in the life of the dancer Gregor Samsa and Corcovado. In An ordinary day in the life of the dancer Gregor Samsa, co-direction and dramaturgy are by Barba, Gleijeses and Varley (it is the first direction by the Master outside of Odin Teatret), while Corcovado is a performance developed by Luigi De Angelis and Michele Di Stefano.