Magical creatures, voices, dancers and acrobats this evening kicked off the 2023 Venice Carnival “Take Your Time For The Original Signs”. Decorated with props from the Teatro La Fenice, a majestic floating stage ploughed through the waters of the world’s most famous canal to give life to a performance, “Original Dreamers”, that enchanted the audience.
It was an hour-long journey, from the Venezia Santa Lucia Railway Station to St. Mark’s Basin, aboard an open-air floating theatre, where the elements of nature, the symbolism of the Zodiac and the Carnival traditions were mixed together. Thousands of spectators followed the show from the banks in total safety.
Against a backdrop as white as the founding stones of the lagoon city’s architecture, fifty artists dressed in the splendid creations of the historic Venetian Ateliers gave life to a travelling show along the Grand Canal with the timeless magic of the Unicorn, the representation of the hunt for the Bull and its twelve pigs in the sign of tradition, dancers and acrobats whose movements gave shape to the original sign, as this year’s theme requires. All this, to the notes of an opera quartet of extraordinary voices that interpreted arias, while percussionists gave rhythm to this travelling dream, marked by the fire that lit up the darkness of the evening and reflected on the waters in the sign of warmth and rebirth.
A special Columbine was on board this navigating stage: Alice Bars, Mary of Carnival 2022, wearing a dress specially made for the occasion, studded with lights to shine in the night and transport the Carnival on an evocative and ancestral journey towards the 2023 edition. From Ca’ Corner, headquarters of the Metropolitan City of Venice, the event was followed by members of Mayor Luigi Brugnaro’s City Council, as well as civil and military authorities.
The Opening Parade is a production by Vela Spa for the 2023 Venice Carnival, from the concept by Artistic Director Massimo Checchetto and directed by Enrica Crivellaro. Among the artists involved: Opera Fiammae; Psycodrummers; RandB. Collective; Compagnia l’Arte dei Mascareri; the lyric quartet composed of soprano Silvia Celadin, baritone Alberto Zanetti, tenor Riccardo Gatto and mezzo-soprano Francesca Gerbasi; Viola Cappelli; the Maria del Carnevale 2022 Alice Bars; the Venetian ateliers Atelier Pietro Longhi, Antonia Sautter Creation, Nicolao Atelier, La Bauta; the Compagnia Teatrale Pantakin.
