“On the motionless nights of the Karst summer, a call crosses the dark: keu… keu… The scops owl sings, hidden among branches, revealing itself only through its voice. From this image, Compagnia Bellanda shapes a visceral duet on love’s fragile threshold – between desire and control, tenderness and aggression, guidance and surrender. Rooted in breaking and evolving into intimate partnering, the choreography entwines bodies, breath and stripped language. Sound is amplified, fractured, returned as memory. Suspended between choice and destiny, the performers inhabit a space where empathy resists rupture and a single word may alter two lives.”
Where: DB1 at Assembly @ Dance Base
When: 18-30 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/il-canto-dell-assiolo
What can you tell us about your show? What is it about and where did the idea come from?
It’s about relationships—life relationships and everyday relationships. It’s about our past, but one we believe is a shared, universal one: relationships that likely cross the path of every life at least once, not necessarily exclusively as a romantic, sexual love story. We all live through relationships between two people— “I, me, myself” in relation to “another, you”—and if we listen to what happens in these relationships, we realise that these are common dynamics.
Not all of the latter are easy, and not all have a happy ending. That’s just normal life. There’s an Italian saying: “mal comune, mezzo gaudio” (a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved); to us, it means that something shared takes on a different weight. More generally, we believe that sharing is important: we watch and create shows to both share and feel part of something. Realising that the other person might be suffering just as much as we are helps bring us closer together. Compassion, in the sense of “suffering together”, and empathy bring people closer.
The idea came about quite spontaneously. First and foremost, from the desire to tell stories people can identify with. We believe this theme is truly ever-present: the relationship between a couple, the search for love, sharing, and understanding. Sharing a personal experience allows us to be honest and authentic. Then, there’s the desire to share something relatable, something viewers can identify with, to connect with an audience that can feel what we feel.
The scops owl, mentioned in the title, is a small migratory bird of prey that arrives in our region [North East Italy] in spring and stays with us throughout the summer. Despite its small size, it has a very powerful call that, unwavering and constant, can be heard all night long. Every night. In ancient times, its cry was regarded by the people of our region as a warning of change, an omen.
This is precisely the role its sound plays within our show: a subtle sound, coming from a source you can’t trace or see, but one that tells you something is changing, giving you precise coordinates of where you are and what you’re doing. Yet, caught up in the daily rush, we don’t hear these sounds even if they are there, constantly present. Immersed in the sea of everyday life, we aren’t clear-headed or tuned in enough to hear them. And then, at night, when everything falls silent, if we listen, the sounds resurface.
The song of the scops owl, metaphorically speaking, is a small, constant sound telling you things are changing. It is the auditory representation of a signal you don’t want to hear, and you do everything you can to avoid listening to it.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
It’s the story of a couple, of timing and the right moment, of relationships, of the difficulties of listening and understanding, of vicious cycles, and of complex dynamics where it’s hard to untangle the knot. In the end, it’s simply an ordinary life.
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? And do you have any moments you particularly remember?
It will be our first time. And like all first times, we’re both excited and scared at the same time!
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?
What excites us most is being part of this huge machine. We’re really looking forward to discovering this world.
What’s next for the show?
We’ll premiere on August 18th in Edinburgh! After that, we’ll perform and dance it as much as possible, and in as many places as possible.