Beijing's theater-goers with a passion for ballet have been somewhat downcast over the lack of dance shows in the past month.

But their winter blues will soon be over.

Aterballetto, Italy's leading contemporary ballet company, will bring its sharp, fast and versatile shows to fire up the audience with the unique Italian zest for life at Poly Theatre on March 3 and 4.

The company will then tour Shanghai for two nights at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on March 8 and 9.

Aterballetto's China debut will present a triple bill of its Artistic Director Mauro Bigonzetti's signature works, highlighting his musicality, sensuality and mastery of different choreographic styles.

The first piece "Omaggio a Bach (Homage to Bach)" is a half-hour dance featuring 19 dancers created to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the great German composer's death.

It is Bigonzetti's moving personal tribute to Bach. Through dance, in a pure, essential and unadorned form, the choreographer interprets Bach's musical universe.

Bigonzetti extrapolates from his "Comoedia canto terzo," inspired by Dante's "Paradise" and set to such Bach music as "Goldberg Variations," "Johannes Passion," "Suite for Orchestra No 1" and "Suite for Orchestra No 3."

The second work "Songs" is a 15-minute sensual and refined pas-de-trois that delves into the deeper aspects of psychological conditions.

The instinctive and extremely vital dance portrays the relationship between man and woman in its various stages: seduction, passion, skirmish and jealousy.

The choreographer quotes from the contemporary Italian composer Roberto De Simone to explain his inspiration for the work: "I think that to live well in this world, all men should be women or all women should be men, or there should not be neither men nor women, in order to have a quieter life. And I know I'm right in what I said."

After the intermission, the audience will see the 40-minute "Cantata" with the Southern Italian female quartet, Gruppo Musicale Assurd, singing and playing traditional songs with a tambourine and concertina on stage.

Bigonzetti's "Cantata" bursts with the passion, colour and wild beauty of Southern Italy's street life. Mediterranean culture is captured in the notes and lyrics of traditional songs performed live by the marvellous quartet Gruppo Musicale Assurd.

With their hair flying and clothes bunched and scruffy, they are set loose on a string of larky, gesticulating combative numbers, all nuanced with a very Latin energy.

Founded in 1979 in the small Northern town Reggio Emilia by Amedeo Amodio, Aterballetto, the first ballet company in Italy not to be under an Opera House, is one of the best dance companies in Italy.

Since March 1997, when 38-year-old Bigonzetti was appointed its artistic director, he has gradually transformed Amodio's neoclassical style into a unique Italian style the ability to move fluidly from classical music to pop, from Balanchine to modern ballet.

Trained at the Rome Opera Ballet School, Bigonzetti started and developed his career as performer and choreographer with Aterballetto under Amodio from 1982 to 1993, standing out as one of the main soloists and accomplishing his early choreographic experiences that have led him to develop collaborations with the most prestigious international companies including Kirov Ballet, English National Ballet and New York City Ballet.

After he became the artistic director of Aterballetto, Bigonzetti decided to give the troupe a strong identity of its own, and to do that, certain changes were necessary not only in repertoire, but in the quality of the dancers.

"Before, Aterballetto used to dance the classical repertoire, and guest stars like Alessandra Ferri and Vladimir Derevianko were invited to dance the main roles, while the rest of the troupe made little progress in the corps de ballet," recalled the director.

The first thing to do was to raise the technical and artistic level of the company as it was more interesting to work with his own dancers than to import guests. Now, all the 19 dancers in the company are classically trained and all are soloists in their own rights.

The troupe is predominantly Latin, with dancers from Italy, France, Spain, Venezuela, Syria and Canada.

"I'm creating works for certain dancers, using their specific personality, and it's very stimulating that they come from different cultural backgrounds. It makes for a real exchange. It's not easy, but it's fascinating," he said.

His inventive choreography makes eloquent use of the company members. He is creating new steps, and original, dynamic ways of moving. At each turn, there is the unexpected, a gentle touch of irony: something to surprise.

After studying at the school of Art and Architecture in Rome and spending any spare time meandering around museums and palaces absorbing everything around him, the Rome-born Bigonzetti said he is deeply influenced by the Italian culture.

"I've inevitably been inspired by the works of art around me," he said. "Michelangelo, for instance, and all the cultural references I grew up with, and these very Italian influences are obviously present in my work. After all, dance is a form of sculpture," he said.

As one of the should-not-miss events in the Year of Italy in China 2006, Aterballetto's triple bill courtesy of the artistic Roman choreographer Bigonzetti will definitely bring the viewers the true taste of Italy.

(China Daily February 27, 2006)