Eleven dancers from the Antonio Ruz company perform this work at the Symphony Hall on Sunday. A Talía Award winner for the Best Choreography.

 

Next Sunday (29th) at 7:30 p.m., the Auditorio de Tenerife has programmed the large-scale dance show Pharsalia, by the Antonio Ruz Company. This proposal is the Talía Award winner for the Best Choreography. Based on an epic Roman poem of the same name, it will bring to the stage of the Symphonic Hall eleven performers who will dance inside a dome. The tickets for this show, part of the Moving Arts Festival FAM, can be purchased at a price of 15 euros, with special discounts for the audience under 30 years of age, students, unemployed and large families.

With a compelling stage and costume proposal and an original music creation that travels from the epic to the electronic, 11 performers will go through choreographies packed with violence, subtlety, and theatricality embarking, with all their physicality, on a festival of combat. According to the director and choreographer, the 2018 National Dance Award winner Antonio Ruz, "Pharsalia represents an anti-war ode to dance as a weapon of liberation and redeeming energy".

The Cordovan-born Roman poet, Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39-65 A.D.), nephew of Seneca, wrote the only work by him to have survived until the present day: Pharsalia or Bellum Civile, an unfinished epic poem in ten books about the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great.  Due to its complex vitality, it has generated multiple critiques, meanings and interpretations throughout history. However, its relevance today distils a clear message that invokes freedom and rejection of tyranny. In his narrative, only resistance is heroic, and his lament proclaims a grievance that takes on a universal character.

Taking the Pharsalia by Lucan as a starting point, this choreographic work delves into the concept of war from an allegorical approach, putting the body at the service of daily concepts such as conflict, crisis, resistance, tension, and escape. However, humans are not content with the state of conflict, and that is where the traces of beauty, and hope, appear on stage.

Carmen Fumero, a multi-award-winning performer from Tenerife, is part of the cast of dancers and choreographic collaborators of Pharsalia, which is completed by José Alarcón, Gonzalo Álvarez, Mado Dallery, Joan Ferre, Manuel Martín, Lucía Montes, Alicia Narejos, Selam Ortega, Isabela Rossi and David Vilarinyo.

Pharsalia, recommended for ages 14 and over, is a co-production of Teatros del Canal and Museo Universidad de Navarra with the support of the Gran Teatro of Cordoba and Teatro Central of Seville, and with the collaboration of the Municipal Theatre of Coslada and the Sanchinarro Cultural Centre.

Antonio Ruz, an independent choreographer and dancer, is currently one of the most outstanding dance creators in Spain. Based on a marked interest in the most open nature of dance, his discourse is developed while leading his own company founded in 2010 or with interesting collaborations with renowned national and international groups, such as the German company Sasha Waltz & Guests.

After his training in flamenco, Spanish dance, ballet, and a significant career as a dancer in major companies, such as the Ballet Víctor Ullate, the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Lyon Opera Ballet or the Spanish National Dance Company, in 2009 he created his own company in pursuit of a creative identity through research in the field of movement and multidisciplinary collaboration. The distinctions and awards that have shaped his trajectory include the 2018 National Dance Award in the Creation Category and the 2013 Spanish radio and television (RTVE) "Ojo Crítico" Dance Award.

The tickets are available on the website www.auditoriodetenerife.com, at the auditorium's box office or by dialling the phone number 902 317 327 from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The rest of the FAM programme is available at www.famtenerife.com. Both programmes Danza a Escena and the Circuito Acieloabierto, collaborate with FAM and are sponsored by the INAEM (National Institute of Performing Arts and Music) of the Ministry of Culture of the Spanish Government.