Another Round for five
2019

The five protagonists of Another Round for Five find themselves in an undefined place, maybe a club, a circle. Definitely, a place one belongs to, or is excluded from, where rituals are performed; the setting of a television show, of a game, of group therapy sessions; a place for discussions, clashes and confessions. The five come together in a circle, as if attracted by the illusion of a fleeting sense of harmony, impossible to maintain. 

On a starkly plain set, where a handful of objects appear and disappear, we witness the manifestation of a new realm which induces laughter as much as an eerie sense of claustrophobia, and where, to the rhythm of flashbacks and premonitions, a game is played out that blurs the lines between reality and fiction, the conscious and the unconscious, equilibrium and chaos. Cristiana Morganti approaches her stage direction like a cinematographer, creating camera angles that move from close ups to long and sequence shots, alternating moments of dance – powerful and fierce – with pure drama; comical, touching, and where each character reveals itself with disarming honesty. Throughout the development of the performance, the five characters become more and more defined, singular in their individuality, but tightly linked to one another. 

The dramaturgical structure is sustained by the musical score, punctuated by motives that come back in cycles, accentuating the repetition or variation of certain scenes. The musical choice spans genres, between the timeless sacred music of Pergolesi, the heavy beats of German techno composer Florian Kupfer, all the way to classic pop hits such as Irene Cara’s What a Feeling. 

“I know where I am, I have been lost here before”  

These words by Cristiana Morganti, could also have provided an excellent title. In fact here there is no description of location or surrounding, because what mostly matters in this place is to become lost, to let go, to pay attention and possibly be found. Here, what counts is the tension, the turbulence and the concerns that relationships raise, as we search for solutions that often put our will and resolution to the test. It is a vicious circle, but one with its own virtue: there is always the chance, the possibility both to regurgitate your past in order to free yourself from it, and to curb your own energy to give space to the interior world of someone else. It is the shape of the circle, that comes back like a magnet for movement, in this piece of dance theatre, the like of which we haven’t seen in quite a while, which gives order to many moments of exposure, the revealing of the self, but ultimately capable of dissecting the fragility, ambition and misbehavior common to us all. 

Morganti’s dramaturgy, perfectly sustained by Jacopo Pantani’s light design, is rich in dance sequences: more than a montage, this is a profound study of the human spirit. It’s a work full of tension and turmoil, like a boxing round: it doesn’t miss a punch when tackling the violence of the protagonist’s existence, who, within the alliance of a group, search for a fragile and difficult harmony. But that much explosion ultimately is nothing but the antidote to the cynicism and indifference of those who believe they have all the answers, those who can afford to sit comfortably neutral in the face of the chaos of time, those who again and again ask for forgiveness, commiserating with their victims so as to not be revealed as their executioners. 

Stefano Tomassini 

Trailer

Press

In Another Round for Five, delving deep into the study of her characters’ psychology, Cristiana Morganti reveals her maturity and honesty. Maturity, because this piece is challenging, intricate, constructed only on the stage presence of the performers rather than video projections. Honesty, because Morganti reveals her lineage to Bausch without abusing it, but through her mastery of the tools of the great choreographer, rendered personal and adapted to the telling of new stories. Another Round for Five demonstrates that it is possible to go beyond mimicry to find in Bausch’s legacy original and fertile ground.
La Stampa (Sergio Trombetta)

Another Round for Five is a dance-theatre piece that can be described as a tragicomic game to the bitter end, for a small pool of humans, that comes to an anxious yet happily unresolved conclusion. (…) Morganti points the lights on five dancers, two men and three women, thrust upon a courageously empty set, like an abstract frame, in which they express the idiosyncrasies of their individual traits, quirky, vibrant and expressive. Psychological tropes and sharp humour are mixed with intense yet balanced physicality. 
La Repubblica (Leonetta Bentivoglio)

Moving on from autobiographical themes Cristiana Morganti’s authorship keeps growing and maturing, through the existential queries now entrusted to the five performers.
The same sequences return like flashbacks, interrupted by blackouts and light cues, and by a rich soundtrack which sustains stunning moments of dance: light, fluid, frantic, arms always moving, free solos, intertwined with a variety of duets and trios. Constructed like a cinematographic edit, the performance offers a mirror to reflect, with an ironic smile and lightness, on our own attitudes to relations and the ungraspable nature of being. 
Danza & Danza (Giuseppe Di Stefano) 

From the beginning of the performance, sequences and situations guide our imagination to interpret the stark setting of this piece as evocative of a club from the ‘30s, a private circle, reminiscing of the great film director Frank Capra. (…) The narrative is not linear. Time is punctuated by a flux of memory flashbacks and choreographic foreshadowing. The performers are revealed little by little, becoming increasingly clear through stories of genuine sincerity, resulting in a perfect conjunction between reality and fiction. (…) And as the epilogue approaches, images and actions from the beginning of the piece shape the final outcome, the whole choreographic material, even though it at first appeared casual and disjointed, is finally reorganized with impeccable logic. The subjective individualistic viewpoint of each character from which the narrative material stemmed is dissipated: what is left is the artistic work of a masterful direction. 
Krapp’s Last Post (Matteo Ravelli) 

Morganti’s roots as life-long dancer at Bausch’s Tanztheater should not lead us to consider her work from a reductive derivative viewpoint. (…) The quality and autonomy of the piece are sustained by the structure, the precise gestures and the ability to bring to the fore the human qualities of the five characters, with a crossover of different languages, that does not hamper the easy understanding of each story and anecdote, but surely finds it’s peak within the choreographic form. 
Teatro e Critica (Viviana Raciti)