Dance turns heat into motion as a master of kinetic art translates emotion through geometry and abstraction. What awaits the company from Elche is a bold new challenge, a project led by a group known for pushing boundaries in contemporary touring dance. The company, inspired by a longtime collaborator, has begun rehearsals for a production that pays tribute to a celebrated Onil artist on the centennial of his birth.
Semper will premiere on September 24 at the Alicante Main Theater. OtraDanza welcomes this large-format endeavor with a team that feels genuine excitement. The ensemble includes seven dancers and a pianist, ready to explore the piece from its many angles. The aim is to present a performance that feels expansive and alive to audiences in the region and beyond. The production is anchored by the energy of its director and the dedicated performers who bring the concept to life.
OtraDanza maintains a close relationship with the Alicante Contemporary Art Museum where the artist’s works reside, and with the curator who has shaped this collaboration. The company contributed to the Year of Sempere by lending its body to the interpretation of the artist’s ideas through movement. This is not merely a dance recital; it is a conversation between visual art and physical form that challenges traditional expectations of stage work. Credit for the vision goes to the team from Elche, who describe the project as a collective effort aimed at developing abstract power from the artist’s original compositions. This is a piece without a narrative thread, where every element counts and every performer contributes to the overall composition. The dancers become living components of the score, moving as one to explore light, space, and rhythm.
From the earliest run-throughs, the choreographer emphasized the play of light as a defining feature. The lighting, a signature of the artist’s work, is treated as a vital language rather than a backdrop. The plan is to make the light itself dance with the performers, creating a dynamic three-dimensionality on stage. The music emerges in tandem with the choreography, each idea feeding the other so the score breathes as the dancers move. The creative team notes that this approach yields a living, evolving piece rather than a fixed composition. The lighting designer said the result will be bold and accessible, with a straightforward method that still delivers striking visual impact. The musical process mirrors the choreography, with composers and dancers shaping the flow together, producing something that feels organic and spontaneous. Credit for the lighting and sound design is attributed to the technical team who have embraced the challenge of this kinetic exploration.
Noales sees the project as a new phase for OtraDanza, bringing a raw, ritualistic edge to the company’s repertoire. He explains that this exploration reconnects with the artist’s intimate universe while pushing the body toward more precise and delicate detailing. He emphasizes that the body should be treated as an instrument within the score, an idea that reshapes how movement communicates meaning. The project invites audiences to witness a shift in the company’s approach, one that prioritizes physical truth and the precision of each gesture over theatrical narrative. The dancers participate as active contributors to the material, each body forming a piece of the larger mosaic rather than performing predefined roles. Credit for this evolving direction goes to the collective effort of the troupe and its collaborators.
During the first trials, the choreographer spoke about shaping light as a central element, a distinctive trait of Sempere’s work. The lighting plan aims to make the light itself move across the stage, becoming another dancer in the room. The scene designer notes that the approach will lean on simple, powerful tools to create depth and dimensionality. Music and movement are inseparable here, evolving together in a silent dialogue that informs every step and note. The creative process is described as breathing in harmony, a collaboration where choreography and sound inform each other in real time. Credit is given to the lighting and sound teams for their role in crafting this immersive experience.
Noales explains that the new project signals a fresh chapter for OtraDanza. He believes the recent work carries a more brutal, ritualistic quality while continuing to explore a personal universe marked by precision and detail. The body becomes more than a vessel for the score; it serves as a primary instrument in the overall composition, shaping the audience’s perception of the piece. This emphasis on bodily nuance reflects the company’s ongoing quest to marry abstract ideas with tangible performance, inviting viewers to engage with the work on a visceral level. Credit is attributed to those who have nurtured this development and to the dancers who bring visionary ideas into tangible, compelling motion.
The central plan behind Semper’s work is to reveal the emotion beneath form, the lines behind abstraction, the energy that animates stillness. The choreographer seeks to honor poetry within a highly visual, non-narrative framework, transforming a purely plastic creation into a living dance. The effort is to convey subtleties of feeling and power that emerge when geometry and movement intersect in surprising ways. The piece aims to be faithful to the poetry of Sempere’s ideas while translating them into movement that feels immediate and accessible to audiences. This approach makes the artwork emotionally resonant even as it maintains its abstract exterior. The result is a performance that invites contemplation and reaction in equal measure, a testament to the enduring relevance of kinetic art on stage. This emphasis on expressive depth comes from a belief that the most human aspects of the artist’s work lie in moments of crisis, changes of direction, and stages of development. The collaboration with the dancers and crew is ongoing, and the sense of momentum is strong as the project advances toward its public presentation. The team remains committed to delivering a performance that feels authentic, alive, and generous in its exploration of form and feeling. Credit for this interpretive depth is attributed to the creative ensemble that continues to push the boundaries of what dance can express. The piece embodies a shared conviction that art can be more than a display; it can be a living dialogue with the viewer.