For the first time, the brand has designed the costumes for the dancers of the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza/Aterballetto, offering a new take on some of its iconic models created especially for the performance.
For the occasion, Max Mara’s Creative Director, Ian Griffiths, worked with Diego Tortelli, choreographer of Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto, the only 100% public artistic production company in Italy to take Italian dance worldwide, also by interacting with different worlds, such as theatre, art and fashion. Together, they devised the Max Mara costumes, featuring four vibrant colours: yellow, red, electric blue and green that create the necessary theatrical tension, the emotion awakened by pure, special colours that engage with the locations in which the ballets come to life: Fondazione Cini, Palazzo Grassi, La Biennale installations by Achim Menges and Tumo. ''Diego and I started working on this project before the choreography had been developed. This gave us the very exciting opportunity to develop the movement according to the physical characteristics of the clothes. The restrictions created by the costumes, in particular the coats, are what generates the dance. I think it generally works the other way round. My inspiration was to realise clothes which one might see on the street, but in blocks of head-to-to primary colour that contrast with the historic locations. It's all about making the ordinary extraordinary.” Ian Griffiths The idea of universal clothing, a place where the female wardrobe meets the male wardrobe, marked the starting point for a series of tank tops teamed with shorts or sartorial trousers, as well as capes, waistcoats, jackets and coats, including the world-famous Teddy Bear style, and a new take on the wrap coat, with the belt becoming extra-long and turning into an element to dance with. In a sophisticated style crossover, the male dancers wear the Max Mara blazers, while the female dancers abandon the classic tutu and rise up on their pointe shoes dressed in organza trousers that reveal their elegant bodies and graceful movements. The 2022 edition of the New Year’s Concert in Venezia will broadcast today from 12.25 PM on the Rai1 channel and at 6 PM on Rai5. It will be directed by Maestro Fabio Luisi, and will feature the soprano Pretty Yende and the tenor Brian Jadge, as well as the Choirmaster Alfonso Caiani.