written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca with Helena Bittencourt and Goos Meeuwsen In keeping with our very own approach to storytelling, we created a show that plays on the balance between a sweet and a nostalgic form of absurd.

Regardless of the simplicity and bareness of the theatrical apparatus, ours is a surreal universe, somehow fiercely serene, a self- reflecting form of theatre. Our actors use the proscenium to engage in a dialogue with the audience, where illusion and tricks are always disclosed at the end, where we laugh and are moved, where the clowns do not play the fools, but rather embody the frailness of losing heroes. Daniele Finzi Pasca The show Bianco su Bianco is a delicate and yet full of humor theatrical production Length: 90 minutes, no intermission performed by two actors with a circus background: Helena Bittencourt (Corteo Set up: 12 hours by Cirque du Soleil) and Goos Meeuwsen (Love by Cirque du Soleil). All ages

The story introduces two characters, where a stage technician who clumsily supports the actress and helps her in creating images that will carry the audience into a dream-like, almost surreal universe. With remarkable finesse and precision, the artists create a world where light breathes and magnify emotions; it builds a whole universe made of simple geometries and passages, yet surprising. Founders

Daniele Finzi Pasca: co-founder, author, director, choreographer, actor Award Best Foreign Show Mecca 2009 (Canada) for Icaro Nomination for the Best Lyric Opera at the Golden Mask 2011 (Russia) for Aida Award Hans Reinhart Ring 2012 (Switzerland), main Swiss award for achievements in theater Award as Best Director of Circus Performance 2016 (Russia) for La Verità

Julie Hamelin Finzi ( 14.05.2016): co-founder, creative director, producer Gemini Award 2005 (Canada) for Nomade Nomination 2005 as Bestϯ Touring Production of the Year Theatre Award (UK) for Rain Nomination 2006 at Broadway Drama Desk Award (USA) for Rain

Maria Bonzanigo: co-founder, music composer, choreographer Award Gascon-Roux 2009 (Canada) for the score of Nebbia

Hugo Gargiulo: co-founder, scenographer Second prize at Premios Nacionales de Literatura 2001 (Uruguay) for the short stories collection Recuerdos Robados

Antonio Vergamini: co-founder, production advisor Award as Best Documentary at the International Festival of Documentary d’Abruzzo 2009 (Italy) Compagnia Finzi Pasca It is one of the leading independent artistic companies in the world. Based in Lugano (Switzerland), Compagnia Finzi Pasca is internationally renowned thanks to its particular artistic signature: the “Theatre of the Caress”, its own theatrical technique based on the invisible gesture and the lightness state that moves and dazzles. In its career, it created 3 Olympic Ceremonies (Turin 2006 and Sochi 2014, both Olympic and Paralympic Games), 2 shows for the Cirque du Soleil: Luzia in 2016 and Corteo in 2005 (for the latter, 9 million spectators in a 10-year world tour), 5 lyric operas of which Aida and Verdi’s Requiem are officially part of the Mariinsky Theatre (Saint Petersburg) yearly program (moreover: Carmen and Pagliacci at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and Love from Afar for the English National Opera, London). And then: Avudo, a multimedia show that combines video mapping, lights and water fountains for the city of Montreal (265,000 spectators in 4 months) and the next Fête des Vignerons (Winegrowers Festival) in 2019, an event that takes place every 25 years in Vevey (Switzerland) for 400,000 spectators. Currently, the company has 5 shows on tour: Per te (2016), Bianco su Bianco (2014), La Verità (2013), Donka (2010) and Icaro (1991). Other international projects and a new touring show are in preparation. People like me, are made of crystal. We are made of crystal because we are fragile, we can be broken by anything. Those of us who are made of crystal, we are easy to recognize because we are scratched. It’s hard to remain intact as time goes by. …it is hard to survive without getting chipped or scratched, and we always end up with cracks all over us. Since its premiere in Bellinzona, Switzerland in 2014, the show has offered 105 performances to more than 25,000 spectators in 31 cities in Spain, France, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Ecuador, Chile, Russia, Romania, Brazil and Mexico. 348 light bulbs 6,3km of cables 1.643 welds A wind machine up to 50 knots 184 light cues 6.268 words 3 h ats and a hippo head Press Review

“ “It is an intimate and poetic show, interpreted by Helena Bittencourt and Goos Meeuwsen.” ” Dancenews-mtt.com – Montreal, Canada 15.12.15

“Bianco su Bianco: the birth of the most intimate show by Daniele Finzi Pasca.” El Mercurio – Santiago , Chile 23.09.15 “Bianco su Bianco: between comic and tragic, a hymn to hope.” Gazzetta di Modena – Pavullo, Italy 28.02.2017

“The finale, poetic as the whole show, is a perfect balance between delicate irony and sudden lightness.” La Repubblica – Palermo, Italy 31.03.2017 “Intimate and magic show, that brings the spectator to a magic world.” U Noticias – Montevideo, Uruguay 9.02.2015

“A show of contrasts between darkness and light, laughter and wonder, story-telling and fantasy.” Corriere Fiorentino – Firenze, Italy 02.03.2017 “Daniele creates dreamlike and poetic images that enchant and stir admiration and thoughts.” L’Est Républicain Vesoul – Vesoul, France 26.12.14

“The plot follows two characters and carries the audience into a surreal universe filled with fragmentary recollections and reflections.” RIA Voronezh – Voronezh, Russia 06.06.2016 “Adults, like children, need light-heartedness. This is an excellent opportunity. Bianco su Bianco offerssmiles without age limits.” Rioddegraca.com – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 26.01.2017 “Bianco su Bianco is an intimate show, of rare beauty, that shows the Compagnia’s language in telling stories that float between tenderness and nostalgia.” Sopacultura.com – San Paulo, Brazil 03.09.2016 Architects create empty spaces? We humans light them up. We hang lights, or lay them on the floor, we play with switches to make them run and make them blast brightly in surprising angles. The secret is in the light. Creation partners:

International Partner

Co-Producers :

escrito e dirigido por Daniele Finzi Pasca

affiche sao paolo.indd 1 10/08/16 15:25 with the support of :

Research Partner www.finzipasca.com

International Booking: [email protected] - [email protected] - [email protected]

© 2017