Terra Verunt
An interdisciplinary, immersive, participatory, contemporary dance/theatre work inspired by the past and current plight of child migration.
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"What is an arts festival if it does not also challenge, shock and unveil stark social realities that we sometimes consciously, subconsciously, or even unconsciously, keep hidden away? Terra Verunt did precisely this. No hiding; no compromise; no varnish glistening across the rawness of it all. [...] Thank you all. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to internalise and embody this. I was moved beyond words."
Michelle Castelletti, Artistic Director Malta International Arts Festival 2017
Terra Verunt is an interdisciplinary, immersive, participatory, contemporary dance/theatre work inspired by the mass migration of Maltese children to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, and the exile of Spanish children in 1937 escaping from the civil war. It also reflects on the current state of affairs in relation to the Syrian, Ethiopian and Libyan children who arrive on Malta while crossing the Mediterranean, without identification, and who are subsequently forced into detention.
With an original soundtrack and live music interventions by Renzo Spiteri (UK/Malta), choreography by Lucía Piquero (Spain) and dramaturgy by Erica Muscat (Malta), this contemporary work follows the story of migrant children on a journey from or to their migrant home. It speaks of the excitement and trepidation in leaving family and home for a new land and, for the returning migrant, the weight borne from years of being severed from their home country.
Terra Verunt offers an opportunity for the audience to “live” through and identify with its own version of this journey. This is an experiential work with actors and dancers filling in the roles of the young migrants with a soundtrack that slowly submerges the audience into a world mirroring the current migrant experience. Audience members may “play” and integrate with the “children” to a degree that is up to each individual to decide, moving across spaces, without being limited to a singular story-line but engaging in a multi-directional approach to create their own unique journeys.
With an original soundtrack and live music interventions by Renzo Spiteri (UK/Malta), choreography by Lucía Piquero (Spain) and dramaturgy by Erica Muscat (Malta), this contemporary work follows the story of migrant children on a journey from or to their migrant home. It speaks of the excitement and trepidation in leaving family and home for a new land and, for the returning migrant, the weight borne from years of being severed from their home country.
Terra Verunt offers an opportunity for the audience to “live” through and identify with its own version of this journey. This is an experiential work with actors and dancers filling in the roles of the young migrants with a soundtrack that slowly submerges the audience into a world mirroring the current migrant experience. Audience members may “play” and integrate with the “children” to a degree that is up to each individual to decide, moving across spaces, without being limited to a singular story-line but engaging in a multi-directional approach to create their own unique journeys.
Terra Verunt was so well placed that it immerses the audience to “live” the experience of these young adults/children but at the same time identify with on-goings of the world that might now be taken for granted or not even brought to light by the media at all. [...] This abstract, multidisciplinary performance, which revolves around migration through the eyes of children, leaves you speechless at the end. It is a deeply affecting work that transports you through events that may have happened decades ago but yet are still relevant to this present day.
Margherita Borg, Audience Member, Choreographer and Dancer
Performance photos: by Darrin Zammit Lupi for Reuters.
Premiere performance: Malta International Arts Festival, June 2017, The Splendid, Valletta (Malta). This project was commissioned by the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union in collaboration with the Malta International Arts Festival 2017.
Co-created by Renzo Spiteri (Composer, Sound Designer and Live Performer), Lucía Piquero (Choreographer) and Erica Muscat (Dramaturg and Performer)
Supported by #EngageCREATIVES.
Original cast included dancers Fabiana Mangialardi, Carl Crochet, Gaby Davies, Kostas Papamatthaiakis, Corinna Abela and Emma Louise Walker, and actresses Erica Muscat, Stephanie Bonnici and Laura Wyatt O'Keeffe.
Co-created by Renzo Spiteri (Composer, Sound Designer and Live Performer), Lucía Piquero (Choreographer) and Erica Muscat (Dramaturg and Performer)
Supported by #EngageCREATIVES.
Original cast included dancers Fabiana Mangialardi, Carl Crochet, Gaby Davies, Kostas Papamatthaiakis, Corinna Abela and Emma Louise Walker, and actresses Erica Muscat, Stephanie Bonnici and Laura Wyatt O'Keeffe.