Ham Hall to host Italian ballet

Monday, Oct. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Founded in 1979 by Amedeo Amodio, a major figure in Italian dance and an internationally renowned choreographer, Aterballetto represented Italy at the International United We Dance Festival in May 1995 in San Francisco, as one of the most prestigious 13 dance companies in the world.

"Rather than re-tell the story of Romeo and Juliet," said Amodio, "I was more interested in trying to get inside the various personages and express the feelings of each. The duel is continuous. We discover it right from the start between the Montagues and Capulets, in the intimate contradictions of each personage, in the meeting between lovers and the encounter with death.

"All this is made even more incisive by Gabriella Bartolomei's vocal counterpoint. Hers is the voice of passion at its most complex -- from the cruelest to the kindest."

"Sonate a Trois" was choreographed by Maurice Bejart and features music by Bela Bartok. It was inspired by "Porte Chluse" by Jean Paul Sartre and enacts the tragedy of three people, near death, who find themselves shut in a room without exit, condemned to be each other's hell.

The "Suite from Romeo and Juliet" is a ballet in one act, choreographed by Amodio and featuring music by Hector Berlioz. Vocal score is by Gabriella Bartolomei.

Critic Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times has referred to the Aterballetto as "mixing perfect classical form and raw power."

Tickets are $23, $28.75, $36, $43.75 and $54.75 at Dillard's and the Performing Arts Center box office, 895-3801. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.