Mariposa
Mariposa: A Transgender Tragedy Inspired by Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.
Under the flickering lights of a Caribbean port, a local rent boy and a foreign sailor fall ominously in love in choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra’s inventive reimagining of Puccini’s seminal opera. DeNada Dance Theatre’s Madame Butterfly is immersed in a mist of Havana smoke, within which a young man is asked to sacrifice his gender in exchange of love and a better life.
Mariposa is a dance-drama that transports Puccini’s Orientalist libretto to post-revolution Cuba, to a dockland world of faded showgirls, hopeful rent boys, troubled sailors and Santeria spirits. Engulfed in a tropical storm of repressed desires, this brand new production is a passionate and deeply moving exploration of what we are ready to sacrifice in order to be loved and accepted.
Choreographer: Carlos Pons Guerra
Composer: Luis Miguel Cobo
Commissioned by: Birmingham Dance Hub & Spin Arts
Supported by: DanceXchange & The British Council
