Adi Da Up Close
Audio/Video Library

In 2016, on a summer night in the beautiful city of Florence, the Florence Dance Company performed the multimedia dance event, Quattro Maggiore ("Four Seasons") — set to the music of Vivaldi (his most well-known work, "Quattro Maggiore", performed live) and the art of Adi Da Samraj as the backdrop. Vivaldi's masterpiece has four parts, corresponding to the four seasons. In this newly expanded performance, musical preludes have been added before each season, featuring the musical composition and performance of hang drummer extraordinaire Paolo Borghi of Rome. In this excerpt, we hear Borghi's "Prelude" to Vivaldi's "Winter".

The performance took place on the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval multi-arch bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy. The Ponte Vecchio is one of the most historic bridges in the world, and the earliest bridge at this spot is believed to have been built in Roman times.

This performance is in preparation for a planned, fuller performance in 2017.

Tags: Florence Dance Company   Image-Art  

Excerpt from the Florence Dance Company's performance of the multimedia dance event, Orpheus Ascending, with Adi Da's Image-Art in the background. The music is Ray Lynch's "Passion Song", from his album, Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening.

Orpheus Ascending was a highlight of the October 8, 2015 Finissage Event for The Ascent of Orpheus, the exhibition of Adi Da's art at the Bargello Museum in Florence that ran from July 9 to October 11, 2015.

Choreography: Keith Ferrone
Artistic direction: Marga Nativo
Featured dancers:
Daniel Sandwiches (Orpheus)
Ylenia Mendolicchio (Eurydice)
Emilia Giubasso (chorus)
Virginia Montel Brains (chorus)
Jane Llaha (chorus)
Elisa Torrigiani (chorus)

The video clip is from a longer Toscana TV News clip with noted journalist Fabrizio Borghini reporting on the Finissage Event.

Tags: Florence Dance Company   Image-Art  

The Florence Dance Company’s performance of Divina(dot)com (on July 9 – 11, 2015) in celebration of the 750th anniversary of Dante’s birth, in the Bargello National Museum courtyard, featuring Adi Da Samraj’s art, and performed in association with The Ascent of Orpheus exhibition at the Bargello Museum.

Tags: Image-Art   Florence Dance Company  

On the evening of July 24, 2014, The Florence Dance Company performed the multimedia dance event, Quattro Maggiore ("Four Seasons") — set to the music of Vivaldi (his most well-known work, "Quattro Maggiore", performed live) and the art of Adi Da Samraj. The performance was called "Dancing on the Bridge of the World", because it took place on the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval multi-arch bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy. The Ponte Vecchio is one of the most historic bridges in the world, and the earliest bridge at this spot is believed to have been built in Roman times.

This slideshow includes photographs of "Dancing on the Bridge of the World" by Richard Osbourne.

Music is by Aaron Nakagawa.

Tags: Image-Art   Florence Dance Company  

On July 21 and 22, 2014, The Florence Dance Company performed the multimedia dance event, Quattro Maggiore ("Four Seasons") — set to the music of Vivaldi (his most well-known work, "Quattro Maggiore", performed live) and the art of Adi Da Samraj. The venue was the courtyard of the historic Bargello Museum in Florence.

This video clip provides an introduction to the place (Florence), the dancers, the musicians, the art (images from Adi Da's Geome One: Alberti's Window, in four different colorings for the four seasons), and the costumes (which were color-coordinated with the art).

Also in this clip: Italian art critic, Giuliano Serafini (author of Matisse e il Mediterraneo and Goya, praises the combination of music, dance, and art: "It's the best!". Serafini, Keith Ferrone (director of the Florence Dance Company), and Ruchiradama Nadikanta all note the technological advance represented by the LED lighting in the back panels, that brought out the color in Adi Da's art to a far greater degree than in previous performances (assisted by new fabrications of Adi Da's art), and enlivened the dancers' performance.

Ruchiradama Nadikanta: "Absolutely exquisite! . . . It was one symphony — of dance, and art, and music. . . Adi Da was immensely present, infusing every note and every step, as well as shining through His extraordinary Art. . . You feel [the dancers] really dancing to the Art."

Videographer: Matt Braithwaite

Tags: Image-Art   Florence Dance Company  

New music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed at the Pergola Theatre on March 15 and March 17, 2013.

This piece is called "Finale".

Played by the 12-piece orchestra, Ensemble Nuovo Contrappunto.

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company  

The Florence Dance Company prepares and performs at the Pergola Theatre, Florence, in the March 2013 performances of Not-Two Is Peace. Accompanied by interviews with some of the dancers and members of the public responding to the performance.

Camera: Tanja Fleischmann, Lotte Braithwaite, Matt Braithwaite, Jasper van Laar
Editor: Jasper van Laar


For more about the performances, click here.


Tags: Florence Dance Company   peace  

A few scenes from the preparation at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on March 14, 2013. Some views of the famous old theatre itself. The use of back projection for the video produces very crisp images of Adi Da's art, without the projection being interrrupted by the dancers (who would stand between the projector and the lower part of the screen in a traditional forward projection system).

For more on the performance, click here.

Videographer: Matt Braithwaite

Tags: Image-art   Florence Dance Company   peace  

Music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed on July 22 and 23, 2012.

This piece is called "War: Private, Neighborhood and Global Destruction".

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company  

Music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed on July 22 and 23, 2012.

This piece is called "Ego Not Eco".

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company  

Music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed on July 22 and 23, 2012.

This piece is called "Orange Light".

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company  

Music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed on July 22 and 23, 2012.

This piece is called "Ego 1 — self-ish-ness".

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company  

Music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed on July 22 and 23, 2012.

This piece is called "C+T=P".

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company  

Music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed on July 22 and 23, 2012.

This piece is called "Still Life".

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company  

Music by premier Florentine composer Andrea Portera, from the ballet, Not-Two Is Peace, performed on July 22 and 23, 2012.

This piece is called "In the Beginning".

Tags: music   peace   Florence Dance Company