Eyelands - Cyprus / Riccardo Buscarini

Eyelands is the title of choreographer Riccardo Buscarini’s travelling project dedicated to the islands and their culture. The word play between "i" and "eye" (eye) in the title is intended to suggest a research on identity through a specific observation, such as an in-depth, scientific study.
The project stems from the passion for travelling and the fascination for remote places where the landscape and isolation have favoured the development of unique cultural traits. Eyelands focuses on the relation between the landscape and the cultural identity of the island but also the effect of time on it. The project is a study and a tribute to the uniqueness and originality of cultural expressions that islands have acquired in their history and which they tend to preserve with pride, dignity and nostalgia in a present that inevitably transforms, erodes, forgets them.

From a logistical point of view, the project takes the form of a series of periods of residency of two or more weeks on an island. Riccardo Buscarini chooses a specific characteristic of the island’s culture which becomes the topic of the research. A series of interviews, meetings, targeted visits and a movement laboratory with the participation of a group of local people focusses on this particular aspect - of the orography, of the language, of the handicraft, of the folklore, etc ... The purpose of the period of residence is the creation and presentation of a public performance or movement installation speaking of the island and its culture through its inhabitants’ bodies. The activities will be documented with audio-visual material by local collaborators in order to be archived and, in the near future, to be presented in the form of a documentary and an exhibition.

The first residency of the project took place in La Gomera, Canary Islands, in July 2018 with the support of Centro Coreográfico de La Gomera and Paso in 2-Certamen Coreográfico de Madrid. The research focussed on silbo gomero, La Gomera whistling language.
The second chapter of Eyelands was held in Malta in September 2018 in the context of the University of Malta. The research focussed on ghana, a type of story telling improvised song.

In Cyprus, Riccardo will look at local markets and cooking traditions as symbol of cultural exchange between people of diverse origins. This research will be presented at Dance House Lefkosia on 2nd June 2019.

Sunday, 2nd of June 2019, 19:00-19:45
Dancehouse Lefkosia
Free entrance