To Hell and Back

Dazzling Dance Company Does Dante

Patrick Neas
KC Studio
January/February 2024

Dante’s “Divine Comedy” has inspired artists of all genres since it was written in the 14th century. Visionaries like Botticelli, William Blake and Gustave Doré made brilliant illustrations of the work. Among composers, Franz Liszt was an aficionado, having written two pieces inspired by it: “After Reading Dante,” a fantasia for piano, and the Dante Symphony. Tchaikovsky musically portrayed one of the more infamous denizens of the Inferno, Francesca da Rimini.

Now Dante’s epic poem is a ballet, and it’s going to be performed in Kansas City. The Harriman-Jewell Series presents the Italian dance company No Gravity performing “Divine Comedy” Jan. 31 at the Folly Theater.

No Gravity and its founder and director, Emiliano Pellisari, are the perfect team to take on Dante’s journey of a soul. Steeped in Italian history and culture, Pellisari also studied Hellenistic theater and the grand theatrical spectacles of the Renaissance and Baroque. The so-called “theater of marvels” employed elaborate machines and special effects designed by some of the greatest artists of the time, like Leonardo da Vinci.

One can see Pellisari’s love for Renaissance and Baroque design expressed in his choreography, which is reminiscent of the curlicues and intricate patterns found in Renaissance and Baroque art. Like a 16th-century Italian theater impresario, Pellisari draws on every trick in the book to dazzle his audience, from stage illusion and the latest technology to the mind- boggling physicality of his dancers.

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