Italia Danza arrives in London on April 29, 2025.

Sometimes, it seems that the intricate threads of history weave together distant destinies across time and space through delicate, almost invisible ties. And it is only pure chance—the opportunity of the here and now—hand in hand with curiosity, that opens our eyes and reveals the steps and figures of the dance we are unknowingly living in that very moment.

As chance would have it—and here, the invisible thread of universal history begins to reveal itself—twenty years after its last performance in the British capital, and on the 450th anniversary of Gerusalemme liberata (completed in 1575 by the author and later published without his consent), CCN/Aterballetto returns to London to perform Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, one of the most celebrated episodes of Tasso’s epic poem. This event is made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in London, as part of Italia Danza, a project curated together with the Direzione Generale per la diplomazia pubblica e culturale del MAECI.

As part of the Performance Festival at the V&A Museum, CCN/Aterballetto celebrates International Dance Day with Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, a dance and live music performance created in September 2024 to enhance Italian cultural heritage. The work was co-designed with the Direzione Generale Musei of the Italian Ministry of Culture and supported by the Direzione Generale Spettacolo dal vivo.

Set against the backdrop of the Raphael Gallery at the V&A Museum, the tale of love and death told by Torquato Tasso in Gerusalemme liberata (1575) and set to music by Claudio Monteverdi (1624) will come to life. The performance, created by Fabio Cherstich and Philippe Kratz, features dancers Gador Lago Benito and Alberto Terribile, tenor Matteo Straffi, and harpsichordist Deniel Perer.

Four hundred years ago, Claudio Monteverdi gifted the world Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, one of the masterpieces of the Italian Baroque, intertwined with the literary legacy of Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata. Far from being a fixed monument of unchanging classicism, the composition was already recognized in 1624 for its experimental and daring nature—a powerful innovation that opened new paths in the fusion of words and sound, offering a dramatic experience that transcended mere listening.

Over the centuries, this work has continued to inspire interpretations that blend tradition and modernity, making it an ideal bridge between past and present.

The Centro Coreografico Nazionale / Aterballetto, together with an impressive group of co-producers—Teatro Regio di Parma / Festival Verdi, Torinodanza Festival – Teatro Stabile di Torino – Teatro Nazionale, and Ghislierimusica – Centro di Musica Antica—has developed a project that weaves together multiple performing arts. The aim of this journey is to cast a contemporary light on what are considered “sacred texts” of Italian cultural heritage.

The dancers’ bodies convey an intensity—and sometimes a violence—that speaks volumes about our own historical moment. It is precisely through physical action that a third level of perception can emerge, one that embraces the lines of the instruments and voices, completing the idea of representation that Monteverdi himself seemed to foresee in his work.

The key concepts driving this interpretation also stem from the vision of Fabio Cherstich, who envisions a confined, circular stage space where the similarity of the bodies acts as a mirror—reflecting a tension in which opposing forces, such as Eros and Thanatos, merge into a dynamic balance.

In parallel, choreographer Philippe Kratz offers a reading of inner conflict and confrontation as moments within a ritual of combat, where the violence of the gesture inflicts a powerful, shared wound—one that remains etched on both bodies.

Two valiant warriors, Tancredi—a Christian knight—and Clorinda—a Saracen fighter—face each other in a fierce duel, shrouded in the darkness of night. Tancredi, blinded by the heat of battle, does not suspect that beneath his opponent’s armor is Clorinda, the very woman he loves.

The drama unfolds in a crescendo of tension and pathos, where love, war, and fate become deeply intertwined. Through verses and words that evoke images of physical intimacy and intense contact, the combat begins to resemble a violent dance.

The battle is fierce, yet marked by an inescapable sense of fate: each blow brings Tancredi closer to the most painful discovery of his life. In a cruel twist of destiny, he deals the fatal strike to the very woman he loves—turning heroism into remorse, and love into destruction.

After a long and relentless clash, Tancredi delivers a mortal wound to Clorinda. Only when he removes her helmet to see the face of his enemy does he realize the heartbreaking truth and discover the identity of his opponent.

At the moment of death, Clorinda asks to be baptized, and Tancredi—devastated by grief—grants her final wish. Tancredi, who loved Clorinda so deeply in life, becomes the very agent of her death. And yet, in her final moments, it is he who offers her spiritual peace: