The Live Cracks project is the first of its kind dedicated to live performance as an opportunity for rediscovering and reusing the rare early anatomical theaters that still exist: its aim is to to celebrate, through site-specific contemporary dance-performance, the importance of the pioneering studies on the human body (which flourished in northern Italy and Europe in the late Renaissance) not only for the development of medicine, but also of the arts, dance, and the very concept of our bodies.
Milka Panayotova has been working on the project with her team, composed of both performers and researchers in the fields of anatomy, medicine, history and theatre, since 2013.
In 2014 “Live Cracks” has premiered in Italy with two successful site-specific performances at the Anatomical Theatre of Ferrara and the Archiginnasio Amphitheatre of Bologna, both among the top five oldest surviving medical theatres in the world.
Following further research, the project is now going to be expanded to the other dozen historic theatres surviving across Europe. Choosing the location is a very sensitive matter because each venue selected and involved in the project is not just a stage for a performance, but becomes part of the performance itself, being considered in its historic, architectonic, social and structural aspects.
PAST PERFORMANCES
2014, March 6th FERRARA, Italy Anatomical Theatre - Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea Directing: Milka Panayotova Performers: Alessandra Fabbri, Laura Gagliardi Original Music by Giacomo Marighelli and Bartleby Urens
2014, October 10th BOLOGNA, Italy Anatomical Theatre - Biblioteca dell'Archiginnasio Directing: Milka Panayotova Performers: Cristine Sonia Baraga, Alessandra Fabbri Original Music by Giacomo Marighelli and Bartleby Urens
Currently rehearsing for more performances in 2019 in Modena, Italy and Edinburgh, Scotland.
PRESS REVIEWS
http://www.listonemag.it/2014/10/10/livecracks-performance-per-teatri-anatomici/
Art Tribune: Milka Panayotova – Live Cracks
http://www.listonemag.it/evento/spettacolo-live-cracks-site-specific-performance/
http://www.bibliotechebologna.it/eventi/51430/id/77138