MEDIATHEK

Short sleep is a contemporary musical diptych for the stage composed by Beyond and The Sleepers, two works that address the same issue from different angles: death. I -Beyond (for dancers and chamber orchestra) puts its focus on the subject of life after death. It proposes an expansion of languages in which the vital energy (chi / prana / qi) and the persecution of its immateriality are manifested in the work and become visible, apparently objectified albeit fleetingly unfinished, following an unreadable course. Beyond works with subtle energy levels crossed by the poetic exploration of its reach in other planes of existence, through research of sound experiments with TCI (Instrumental Transcommunication or Electronic Voice Phenomena, i.e. sound recordings that make other possible planes of existence accessible to contact) and the traditions of spiritism (A. Kardec), mediumship and near-death experiences. II-The sleepers (for five singers, ensemble and dancers) is based on texts about the legend of the seven sleepers of Ephesus from the third century AD in their original language (Coptic, Syriac) collected and translated by I. Guidi in 1884/5. It focuses its attention on a historical-religious rift where the idea of "endless life" is present.

According to several sources and versions, the story tells how persecuted young men hide in a cave where they are finally locked and, inexplicably, sleep for hundreds of years until, when the cave is opened again by chance, they wake up to a new world. Mixture of Indo-European and Semitic traditions, this story is a narrative fusion of myth, legend and folktale, and at the same time a synthesis of different cultures and beliefs of a distant era.

Short sleep, as an integral work organically set, plays all the time with musical, performing and conceptual connections between Beyond and The sleepers, taking the idea of mirroring to multiple constructive instances. On the other hand, it makes use of contemporary language as in a dream, without respect for any canon, as it makes use of multiple styles almost like aromas mingling in a great feast. Finally, it incorporates a historically intermediate element that functions as a kind of synthesis: a poem by John Donne, western specialist on metaphysical poetry.
Short sleep tries to open questions, mobilize beliefs and promote a different perception of things, of ourselves and of our relationship with the ultimate meaning of life by exploring the seemingly unfathomable: death.