A new dance theater collaboration with Maciej Kuzminski at the Hessisches Staatsballett in Wiesbaden, Germany. Cantos is a work by Polish choreographer Maciej Kuźmiński, created as a reimagining of Simeon ten Holt’s minimalist masterpiece, Canto Ostinato with Paul Bargetto and Gabriella Neubauer.
The Dutch composer ten Holt developed Canto Ostinato between 1976 and 1979. Its score is notable for its open structure , which grants the performers significant freedom regarding the duration, dynamics, and instrumentation of the piece.
Cantos unfolds as a series of surreal tableau , functioning as a distorted mirror reflecting human folly and error. The choreography draws inspiration from the biting visions in Francisco de Goya’s series Los Proverbios (or Los Disparates ) and the playful, provocative art of Marcel Duchamp .
The Performance
Set against an enlarged marble floor that makes the dancers appear miniature, the work establishes a fragile “small worldview.” In this world, the familiar becomes unsettling, and fundamental, archetypal gestures reflect the strangeness of our own reality.
By embracing the surrealism of our modern world—a reality fractured by war, contradictions, and absurdities— Cantos moves between humor, tension, and ghostly beauty . This atmosphere is intensified by the presence of live-playing pianists.
Paul Bargetto 