Barcelona in 48 Hours / A live collaboration of dance, music, film and photography

photo ©
anja hitzenberger

"If there were prizes for wiliness in dancing, David Zambrano would win them all. He looks deft enough to slip through cracks, dive into keyholes, invade your heart..."
The Village Voice

"Hitzenberger is one of those rare talents who can successfully stop time with her camera, and then let it go at just the right moment."
Salzburger Nachrichten

"Think Fiddler on the Roof meets The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and you may get a tiny grasp of what this music is all about."
The Vermont Review

"True collaboration... there is extraordinary balance among several elements of expression... The ability of the music and film to be as strong a part of the performance as Zambrano's physical presence is profound."
Gay City News

[ about the show ]

New! The live performance of 'Barcelona in 48 Hours' will be presented at ImPulsTanz05 (Vienna International Dance Festival) in Vienna on July 17, 2005 at 9 pm. NEW! Additional show added July 23 at 9 pm. Please visit the ImPulsTanz website for more info.

Barcelona in 48 Hours, photo by Anja Hitzenberger

Two dancers and five musicians take the stage in Barcelona in 48 Hours, a collaborative performance by choreographer David Zambrano, photographer Anja Hitzenberger and composer Edward Ratliff. Explosively physical dance, world-stretching live music, video projections and a stage installation of giant photographs mix themes of travel, dislocation and the body in motion. Dancing, the creative process, immigration police and dreams come together to create a meditation on movement, a poetic snapshot of an artist's life and city.

Barcelona in 48 Hours was commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop in New York City, and was premiered there in February 2004.

Threading through the live action is the short film Barcelona in 48 Hours, produced and directed by Anja Hitzenberger and Edward Ratliff. The film is both an impressionistic portrait of a contemporary dance artist and a meditation on movement of the body. The film centers on David Zambrano, originally from Venezuela and now based in Amsterdam, who travels the globe non-stop as a choreographer, teacher and dancer. Shot in two days in Barcelona, this is a film about movement made almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs. The film has been screened on its own in festivals across Europe, in Latin America and the United States, and made its New York debut as part of this production. Paired with the live dance, the film gives the audience a chance to see Zambrano in action, and at the same time find out something deeper about the performer in front of them.

Zambrano is joined on stage by Mat Voorter, his longtime dance partner and co-star in the film Barcelona in 48 Hours. Live music is performed by Edward Ratliff + Five Agents, featuring Michael Attias (baritone saxophone), Marlene Rice (violin), Sean Conly (bass), Yousif Sheronick (percussion), and Ratliff on accordion and cornet. The action takes place in a landscape created by installation designer Illya Azaroff that includes multiple projection screens and giant photo prints by Anja Hitzenberger. Original lighting design is by Chloe Z. Brown.

Click here for complete film production credits.

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