CCN Aterballetto - Rhapsody in Blue / An Echo, A Wave / Reconciliatio / Solo Echo

Aterballetto is Italy's leading contemporary dance company, celebrated for its expressive power, sensitivity and technical precision. The ensemble brings four works to the dancefirst festival.

Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich take a playful approach to George Gershwin's iconic Rhapsody in Blue. "The music is so energetic and alive, [...] it takes us to a place where anything is possible," say the choreographers. An Echo, a Wave by Philippe Kratz captures the sense of wonder that comes from gazing at an endless sea: the dancers' fluid movements evoke the rhythm of waves as well as shifting emotional states.

Reconciliatio is a female pas de deux by Angelin Preljocaj, inspired by a careful but non-literal reading of the Book of Revelation. In Solo Echo - drawn from two Brahms sonatas and Mark Strand's poem "Lines for Winter" - the award-winning Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite searches with great virtuosity for a language of love, loss and acceptance.