AIRE

PHARSALIA

[Antonio Ruz / 2022]

The violence of the world, the unease, and the constant struggle for survival, for refuge in the face of adversity, are here transformed into an elevated and sublime aesthetic experience. A critical and committed reflection on the cruelty and barbarism of contemporary society.

"Make us, if you wish, enemies of all nations, but spare us from civil war... How miserable it is to emerge victorious from a civil war!" These words were written by the Cordovan poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39–65 AD), grandson of Seneca, in his only surviving work, 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, this work has inspired numerous critiques, meanings, and interpretations throughout history. Yet, its relevance today conveys a clear message calling for freedom and rejecting tyranny. In Lucan’s narrative, only resistance is heroic, and his lament becomes a universal cry.

But how does a work written more than twenty centuries ago resonate in the context of contemporary stagecraft? Can beauty be found in the chaos of war?

Drawing on Lucan’s Pharsalia as its starting point, this choreographic work explores the concept of war through an allegorical lens, using the body to embody everyday concepts such as conflict, crisis, resistance, tension, and escape. However, the human being does not accept war as a permanent state, and it is precisely at this point that the remnants of beauty and hope begin to emerge on stage.

Unfortunately, today, more than ten active armed conflicts persist around the world. War has accompanied us since the dawn of civilization; human nature is driven by desire and ambition, leading to collective insecurity and strife. It is a brutal and dangerous process, but it is part of our species. Civil, cyber, biological, nuclear, global, holy, border, psychological, familial, internal, and even wars within oneself—ultimately, wars. At any moment, we feel they may erupt, transforming us into either warriors or victims.

With a striking scenic and costume design, alongside an original musical composition that bridges the epic and the electronic, 11 performers navigate choreographies charged with violence, subtlety, and theatricality, throwing themselves, with all their physicality, into a celebration of combat. Bodies at war that evoke landscapes of strange beauty, both captivating and unsettling.

Credits

Direction and Choreography
Antonio Ruz

Dancers and Choreographic Collaboration
Anna B. Andresen, Elias Bäckebjörk, Joan Ferre, Carmen Fumero, Jose Alarcón, Manuel Martín, Lucia Montes, Alicia Narejos, Selam Ortega, Isabela Rossi, David Vilarinyo

Scenic and Costume Design
Alejandro Andújar

Original Music
Aire

Lighting Design
Olga García

Dramaturgy
Rosabel Huguet

Technical Coordination
Espacio Átomo

Choreography Assistant
Begoña Quiñones

Production
Paola Villegas, Gabriel Blanco - SPECTARE

Production Assistant
Andrea Méndez

Costume Tailoring
Esther Fiol, Rocío Pozuelo

Scenic Realization
Tecnodimensión

Costume and Props Realization
Maribel Rodríguez, María Calderón

Scenic Realization Collaboration
Sol Curiel