Scirocco - Death in Venice / Bridge of Sighs

Scirocco consists of two chapters, Death in Venice and Bridge of Sighs, conceived by WINN Dance Company (When If Not Now), an ensemble of dancers over the age of forty whose careers have shaped contemporary dance internationally for decades.

In Death in Venice, the ageing writer Gustav von Aschenbach confronts an existential crisis, explored through an imagined inner dialogue with his creator. Film footage by Javier De Frutos provides the narrative framework, while choreographers Imre van Opstal, Marne van Opstal, Omar Román De Jesús and Rainer Behr translate inner conflict into movement.

The Bridge of Sighs, which lends its title to the second chapter of the diptych, evokes countless images for choreographer John Neumeier: a final glance at a beloved city, a lover’s farewell, the aching desire for an irretrievable past, and absence experienced as an intense presence. The dancers echo these images through a choreography that creates an emotional landscape suspended between past and present.