Program Dance in the city
20.07 | 21:00
Kalamata Main Square
THOMAS MARTINO
LIGHEA
Lighea, the protagonist of Thomas Martino’s creation, is a sea creature with an anomalous charm. Inspired by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s fantastic tale from the year 1956, Lighea is a creature of the sea. Half woman, half fish, she drags her body with elegance and beauty, wearing an empty, almost absent look.
Her captivating song seduces a beautiful young man and their encounter generates a gushing wellspring of feeling and reflection. Theirs will be a duet of listening, of the dialogue of a unique and superhuman love and of mutual assistance. A work reflecting the need of the human psyche to cast itself into the vast ocean of imagination.
Admission to all Kalamata Main Square performances and side events is free for all.
- Choreography & Dramaturgy: Thomas Martino
- Music: Lorenzo Cimarelli / Davidson Jaconello / Perfume Genius
- Dancers: Gaia Mentoglio & Daniel Domenech
- Video: Rubén Dario Banol Herrera (STUCKINBABIA)
THOMAS MARTINO
Thomas Martino started his studies in 2008 at the Lachance Ballet in Rome. In 2011, he joined the Agora professional training coaching project under the direction of Michele Merola and Enrico Morelli. From 2012 till 2015, he worked as an artist in different companies including MM Company, Fabula Saltica, Palermo Danza, Duende Company, as well as on independent projects. In 2016, he became a member of Ballet of Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Munich under the direction of Karl Alfred Schreiner, where he worked with William Forsythe, Marco Goeke, Damian Jalet, Marina Mascarell, Lukas Timulak, Eyal Dadon, and Stain Celis. In 2019, the Gartnerplatz Theater nominated Thomas for the Bayerische Kunstforderpreis. Also in 2019, he joined the Ballett Theater Basel. He has worked with choreographers such as Richard Wherlock, Johan Inger, Alexander Ekman, Sharon Eyal, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Andonis Foniadakis, Hofesh Shechter, Imre & Marne van Opstal, and Marcos Morau. Since 2019, Thomas has been teaching internationally, and from 2023 onward, he has been assisting choreographers Drew Jacoby and Edward Clug, as well as performing and choreographing for independent projects globally.
GAIA MENTOGLIO
Gaia Mentoglio was born in 1997 in Napoli, Italy. From 2002 to 2014, she studied at the Art Garage in Pozzuoli. From 2014 to 2017, she attended the bachelor program at the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden, where she took part in workshops by Ohad Naharin on the Gaga technique, William Forsythe, and many other teachers and choreographers. She has been dancing with the Ballet Theater Basel since 2017, working with many different choreographers, including Hofesh Shechter, Marcos Morau, Sharon Eyal, Alexander Ekman, Johan Inger, Andonis Foniadakis and many others. Since 2023, Gaia has been teaching around the world, while also working as an assistant to Richard Werlock. She is working on many different projects as a freelance dancer.
DANIEL DOMENECH
Daniel Domenech started his studies in 2010 at the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Mariemma in Madrid. In 2014, after competing as a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne Ballet Competition, he joined the San Francisco Ballet training program under the direction of Patrick Armand. In 2016, he joined the Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium under the direction of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, where he had the opportunity to work and create with choreographers such as Akram Khan, Pina Bausch, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Édouard Lock, Andonis Foniadakis, Benjamin Millepied, Maurice Bejart, Alexander Ekman, and more. Since August 2022, he has been a soloist dancer with Ballett Theater Basel, performing choreographies by Richard Wherlock, Edward Clug, Iraxe & Igor, and Pontus Lidberg. In 2023, he was featured in the Lady Gaga Dance film campaign by choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkoui and musical artist Woodkid. He is currently working as an independent artist and collaborating with different choreographers and projects, as well as teaching and staging ballets by Drew Jacoby and Edward Clug.