Under which sun?

After studying music, Emanuel Gat approached the world of dance relatively late, at the age of 23. He was born in Israel, but since 2007 he has been living and working in France, in Marseille. He is a familiar presence at the Venice Dance Biennale: from Brilliant Corners in 2011 to Third Song (2015), and Sunny with live music by Awir Leon in 2016.
He founded his own company in 2004 and since then his intense choreographic production has been presented in major theatres and festivals around the world. His creations possess unique characteristics.

Music, sometimes an original composition and sometimes classical and polyphonic, is used by the dancers to enhance its rhythmic pulse, so that a fast step can evoke the sharp peak of a violin. In the past, Gat has experimented with changing the music of an already defined choreography, creating a sense of disorientation among spectators due to the completely different perception of movement. This is also why dancers are given the possibility of varying their steps during the performance. At times, it is instead the geometric lines traced by the performers that recall musical structures.
The lighting design is personally created by Gat, who has also produced several photographic installations. He moves through space as an integral part of the ensemble, while the beams of light become both dancers and the only scenic elements.
The movements of the body are largely characterised by a wide range of joint extensions, and at times the costumes themselves are used to redefine bodily lines.

In Venice, we will see a renewed company with twelve dancers from all over the world. The title is Five Days in the Sun. The world premiere took place only a few days ago at the Montpellier Dance Festival. Critics have enthusiastically welcomed the piece, describing it as a “tapestry” and highlighting the new collective’s ability to interpret Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The contribution of fashion designer Inez Vicher has also attracted attention, with her creations appearing as true “sculptures in motion”.
The score is Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in C-sharp minor, a masterpiece of late Romanticism from the early twentieth century, reflecting a particular period in the composer’s life, when he was facing a serious threat to his health. It opens with the sombre Trauermarsch, before moving towards the joy of the encounter with his beloved, celebrated in the final Rondo.
Gat defines it as a “total journey through human experience”.