Naupaca Dance Factory’s latest offering is ambitiously inspired by Dante’s La Divina Commedia. Veronica Stivala speaks to lead dancer and production manager Deborah Agius about how exactly one dances to Dante.

I strongly suggest you watch the beautiful trailer of Gozitan company Naupaca Dance Factory’s latest project on You Tube.

As the notes of a delicate xylophone play to the accompaniment of a somber cello, a solitary dancer emerges in an enormous empty room.

Soon, he is accompanied by a fellow dancer who joins him and together they dance in sync. The scene then shifts and we see the same two dancers in different costumes, both in white tops, moving in a mesmerising choreography in the clear, blue sea.

As they sway together like two pendulums on a clock, the scene mysteriously shifts again, this time to an unusual venue: a crowded bar.

But, on further observation, one notices that all present are dancers, all female dancers, one a young girl. The scene has a Lynchian effect to it. It is surreal, eerie and yet so artistic and visually gripping. The scene shifts again… you get the gist.

The audience can expect to see a fusion of dance, poetry and live singing

In typical Naupaca style, the video has a magical air to it, hints of fairytale, but with a darker undercurrent.

And this is just a four-minute taster of what promises to be an extraordinary show. Naupaca Dance Factory’s latest artistic offering is Divina, an ambitious contem-porary dance adaptation based on Dante’s La Divina Commedia.

The performance also marks Naupaca Dance Factory’s 10 years since its foundation, which it is celebrating with this, its eighth large-scale production.

Sergey Kheylik and Anna Grech.

The company comprises a team of gifted artists who know what it takes to put together a great show. They are incredibly hard-working and know the importance of selling their product.

Their video promo really is a show in itself and their website features detailed information on the company, the show and interesting spotlights on all involved in it.

This includes writers, designers, collaborating musicians and foreign dancers as well as diary entries which give a sneak peek of what goes on during rehearsals and preparations.

Although Naupaca has been working on the project for some two years, it had been on director Joeline Tabone’s agenda for much longer than that.

“Divina is more ambitious than anything we have ever done before,” says Agius.

“Interpreting and adapting a poem of such literary importance brought with it a big responsibility which we were all aware of. This is the reason why the project had been in the pipeline for so long until we felt ready for it.”

Naupaca were fascinated and inspired by the fact that La Divina Commedia has stood the test of time. They explored this question while transposing the epic into other media – dance, song, music and contemporary text.

Divina is composed of three acts, namely Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso and will be narrated through dance, poetry, song and music.

Original music score and text contributes to a multi-disciplinry approach to Naupaca’s collaboration with various local and international artists.

The performance is definitely very theatrical and the lines between dance and theatre become blurred. This is not the first time Naupaca have had original score written specifically for their choreographies.

Francesco Mariottini

“We have always felt that this particular production deserved a full original music score all for itself. Any other music would compromise the integrity of the work,” says Agius.

Contemporary text written specifically for the show and performed live further enhances the project and gives it a new dimention.

There is also a strong visual aspect that ties the production together. Costumes and set design are all created in relation to the concept.

Mirroring Dante’s descent in hell and subsequent ascension to purgatory and heaven, Naupaca seeks to take its audience through a self-revelatory journey towards salvation.

The variation will plunge audiences in the midst of truths and meanings and present it with the entanglements and wordiness of the poem and all its effectiveness.

The audience can expect to see a fusion of dance, poetry, live singing, original music and acting, all exploring the different emotions and states of being in Dante’s epic.

Divina is a completely original take on Dante’s La Divina Commedia, but all the time treating the poem with the respect it deserves.

The ambitious and inspiring Naupaca rightly aim for the stars. They have their hearts set on taking Divina overseas and while Deborah won’t reveal much about their next project, she does conceded that it might be “somewhat aquatic”.

Divina shows on Saturday at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, and on October 24 at the Aurora Opera House, Victoria.

www.naupacadancefactory.com