XD
the obscenity of teeth
fragment of C/o project
concept and direction:
Francesca Pennini
action and creation:
Andrea Amaducci
Angelo Pedroni
Francesca Pennini
Giulio Santolini
artistic residencies:
Teatro Comunale Ferrara
Operaestate Festival
Cantieri Danza
Rifrazioni Festival
Selected work Anticorpi eXplo and part of IYME International Young Makers Exchange
rehearsal space:
Teatro Comunale di Ferrara
piece for theatre stages
year 2010
duration 30’
The emoticon XD represents a ultra-smiling face.
Here the X is a cartesian cross that define the place of the sight: it works as a pointer addressing the spectator's gaze, or as a cover on the performer's eyes.
The teeth (D) are the fil rouge through an overexposed declination of the concept of smiling.
The stage floor is like the page of a comic where the frames are built and deconstructed live in a rigorous - yet ironic - survey about visual perception.
At the end of the piece the spectators can buy - perfectly vacuumed, packaged and catalogued - the remains of the show (some crumbled piece of tape, used bubble gum squeezed toothpaste, ...) as fetishes of a ephemeral happening.
How much can we see?
How fast can we see?
"The biggest surprise this Fringe is the delightfully dead-pan dose of neo-vaudevillian post modern absurdity of CollettivO CineticO. Loaded with pop-culture references, everything in the piece - from a buck-naked Spider-Man impersonator, a dental-consciuos yoga practitioner and a laughing lamb-in-a-bag to some self-busting balloon heads, a toothpaste-squirting competition and much more - occurs within a variety of square frames. This single gimmick never loses its kick, mainly becouse the lone female and three male cast members set up and execute their bonkers, prop-heavy tasks with a rib-tickling combination of purposeful concentration and crack comic timing. The quartet may not actually dance all that much, but their highly fit and exposed bodies are no little compensation. Their off-the-wall collective brain might be just about as attractive. For anyone happy to be amused but also bemused, this smart silly show is a must-see."
[ Donald Hutera - The Times ]
"Complex and higly defined is the language of the young Francesca Pennini. She is author of a quartet that investigate derealization of the present and pornography of the gaze, themes developed with either ludic bidimensionality or livid cruelty and that now conquers the powerful cartoon imagery. Mixing famous stars and stripes superheroes with anonymous manga figurine, the scenic writing exposes the mechanisms of mercification that reduce the body to mere support of brands printed on the skin. And during the laughs you happen to realize that the obscene is not in the exposition of the flesh but in its progressive dematerialization."
[ Andrea Nanni ]
"The most memorable and incomprensible - yet absolutely captivating - show is XD by CollettivO CineticO. There is no easy shortcut to describe what goes on when they are performing, but it is certainly very funny, ingenious, and involves copious amounts of toothpaste. It's one of those pieces that could be considered either a work of childish madness or brilliant genius."
[ The Skinny ]
"This annual arts fest provides gems: XD is one. Lampooning contemporary trends such as Manga cartoons and silly YouTube clips, the sport-day-style circuit of sketches is as entertaining and expertly performed as it is outrageous. Highlights include a toothpaste-squirting competition, set up with military precision and played with deadpan wit and no hint on camp. The lack of clothing just adds to the highly organized lunacy. XD is the sort of show that gives Fringe nudity a good name."
[ Ellie Carr - Dance Europe ]
"A brilliant complex and visually witty display by the four performers in varying states of undress. Their manipulating of the space is expert, their movements calculated yet naturalistic: this truope, directed by Francesca Pennini, will leave you both smiley and thoughtful."
[ Three Weeks ]
"They are CollettivO CineticO and presented a really great performance full of amusing and thoughtful
reflection on the contemporary imaginary. And your gaze continuously run over the stage, careful to
look for every movement, to snatch the relationship with the next one or the one that is already happening at
the bottom of the stage. An interlocking puzzle intelligent and tasty where the dance is stripped at the altar
of the wildest yet minimal pop. Those are thin cartoon frames, made by imperceptible movements, often deliberately
insignificant, that the theatre makes unique or surreal gags in which the body plays with a toothpaste or to masquerade
in iconic likeness. [...] Between dance, theatre, visual art and performance the piece leaves a mark in the memory of
the audience, that is immersed in a world of signs of biting irony that draws in the imaginary of the contemporary bazaar."
[ Mario Bianchi - Eolo ]
Collettivo Cinetico through a very interesting artistic manipulation has broaden the non-mimetic frame of dance theatre to visual
art sphere. Their many skills in physical performance and their concentration and reliability of performed moves introduced purity
and smoothness in the apparent chaos of the piece. Excellent preparation but also the right act of gestures, costumes or props –
in other words the totality of ‘theatrical machine’ – in a clever way caught our digitalized, grotesque and blasé reality. For which reason
I think that this Italian ‘topographers’ prepared a witty caricature which shows a part of life of civilized resident of Earth."
[ Barbara Siemaszko ]
Took part to the process of creation and to exceptional performative events:
Elisa Mucchi, Paolo Raccanello, Gaetano Viviano
get rid of
