PFor Agata and Teodora Castellucci, everything started in their bedroom in Cesena. «Since we were little we invented lots of ballets. We would put on a record of Tino Rossi…” recalls Agata. «When you were six years old you loved Tino Rossi!» Teodora intervenes, underlining the sister’s originality in preferring a chansonnier who was an idol of the French but little known in Italy. After all, originality is the characteristic of their company, there Dewey Dellcreated in 2006 with his brother Demetriowhich takes care of the music, and of which Vito Matera is now playwright and stage designer.
A “cult” dad
To the daughters of a cult director like Romeo Castelluccialready an exponent of the theatrical avant-garde of the 80s with his sister Claudia, his wife Chiara Guidi and his brother-in-law Paolo (the “Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio”), it came naturally to differentiate yourself from the family. An example? Traverse driftpresented tonight and tomorrow at Fog Performing Arts Festival in Milan (see box at the bottom of the text).
Agata and Teodora Castellucci (photo Eva Castellucci).
«It is a short performance that was inspired by the “cantu a tenore”, a Sardinian choral song of very ancient origins, linked to the figure of the shepherd» explains Teodora. «On stage I embody a hybrid: at times it seems like a newborn baby, at times a little lamb or a plow. Forms that arise from each other as if by budding.”
The importance of the collective
Defining yourselves as a “dance company” perhaps doesn’t give a good idea.
Agate Precisely because we challenge its boundaries so much, mixing it with other languages, we would like to remain in the tradition. For this reason we (the Castellucci sisters insistently speak on behalf of the collective, ed) we were happy to have received the Danza&Danza 2023 award for the best Italian production for Le Sacre Du Printemps: Nicoletta Manni and la. were among the winners Coppélia of the Teatro alla Scala.
Childhood backstage
Your first ever memory of the world of entertainment?
Theodora Maybe the smells, like sawdust. We spent a lot of time in the “back rooms” of the theaters: the laboratories, the carpentry shops, the dressing rooms. Everywhere except in the audience and on stage, where our parents rehearsed.
Have you seen their work? Some were very strong for little girls.
TO. They prepared us, we knew what to expect.
How did you manage with school?
TO. Our mother was very good at organizing homework with the teachers.
Teodora Castellucci in “Deriva Traversa” (photo Salvatore Laurenzana).
And your first artistic expression?
T. I obsessively drew only wolves, probably to rework a fear.
TO. Some plays, who knows what we were saying…
How did your professional journey begin?
T. At 14 I attended one summer school at the Laban in London and there I realized: “Ok, I’m interested in dance, but none of these styles are for me”. The alternative? Invent one. It was a game, we were really little…
TO. Perhaps being born in a provincial city (little stimuli and afternoon tedium to fight) helped motivate us. However, there was a priceless aspect: we lived in the countryside, we had a relationship with the seasons, the time.
T. And with animals, which – together with the history of art – remain an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Our first experimentation was born in the bedroom. With that we participated in a regional competition and won a special prize, which encouraged us to move forward and ask ourselves the questions: who are we? What do we do?
Dewey Dell’s Choice
…what name do we give ourselves? Here, precisely: why “Dewey Dell”?
TO. We were all reading at the time While I was dying by William Faulkner and we were captivated by the (tragic) character of seventeen-year-old Dewey Dell. She is practically silent: she observes a lot and speaks through her eyes.
T. At the beginning the point was above all to create something for the eyes. We think that there is no necessarily need for words: knowledge, wisdom can pass through sight.
The most significant turning points?
TO. The last one was last year, Le Sacre Du Printemps: we have always wanted to tackle the notes of Stravinsky with which many choreographers have measured themselves and, finally, the opportunity arose. We had never relied on pre-existing music. In the same 2023 we then entered the world of opera by taking care of the choreographies of Macbeth by Verdi in Essen, Germany.
T. We were left with the desire to engage with the universe of the opera and, in fact, our next production will concern the Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell.
That’s right Le Sacre Du Printemps It was music that struck your father at 17, is it a coincidence?
T. I knew it!
TO. CI think he said it in an interview…
In fact he even talks about it in documentary Theatronavailable on RaiPlay.
T. We don’t have television.
“Art, not a relief valve”
“Hamlet” according to Agata and Teodora Castellucci (photo John Nguyen).
Your retelling of the Shakespearean Hamlet Was it also an attempt to exorcise the father’s shadow?
T. Obviously, the unconscious is everywhere, and maybe we could have unfinished business, just like anyone… However, we certainly don’t make our art an outlet. That’s what the psychologist is for! (smiles)
TO. We’re not interested in making performances a catharsis.
The most precious teachings of your parents?
T. On both sides, great devotion to the craft.
TO. I even remember an extreme seriousness about our father in the game: he was able to hang from the tree for an hour while playing hide and seek.
T. A lesson in presence: being one hundred percent in what you do. Investing in a project and staying inside it as if it were a subject to immerse yourself in… Rigor is the most suitable word to describe what we have absorbed from him.
TO. But a joyful penalty, eh.
And among the “artistic fathers” of Agata and Teodora Castellucci who do you recognize?
T. Not “fathers” – rather artists we look up to with admiration for their strength and courage – they are geni of sharp radicalism like Vito Acconci and, among the mothers, Gina Pane (great mother!), and Loïe Fuller.
“Social media, for losers”
How do you imagine the future?
T. After almost twenty years of experience (it’s scary just to say it!), the challenge is to be “new” every time. New compared to ourselves, not compared to the panorama. We are almost obsessed with the desire to find ourselves in difficulty; to start falling in love with a project we have to feel uncomfortable. We put a spoke in our own way to avoid repeating something.
Do you use social media to talk about this incessant research of yours?
T. We’re not part of the clique that demonizes them, but how uncool is it to see these people performing? Depressing. Someone who reads is much cooler!
TO. The problem with social media is that they plug every gap in your time… You no longer feel the healthy boredom that triggers active defense mechanisms.
At “Milano Fog” the avant-garde becomes a festival
Is called Fog like fog. Because we are in Milan and because – just like the fog – it blurs the boundaries between disciplines, in the name of contamination. The Performing Arts Festival, organized by the Triennale and now in its seventh editionalternates the most cutting-edge international events in the fields of theatre, dance, performance and music. From today to May 7, in addition to the one with Agata and Teodora Castellucci, the evenings with the Catalan company La Veronal are unmissable; with the Bérénice directed by Romeo Castellucci and starring Isabelle Huppert; with the French choreographer Gisèle Vienne, with the Cape Verdean artist Marlene Monteiro Freitas, with the Spanish group El Conde de Torrefiel, with the Australian composer Ben Frost. Info: fog-2024
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