After 25 years of owning and operating the Brigitte Gauci Borda School of Dance, one of the most prestigious dance schools on the island, principal Brigitte Gauci Borda and Lynnne Salomone Reynaud, have come together to create a young dance company called Malta Dance Theatre (MDT).

This exciting new undertaking is about present a new project entitled Lacrimosa, produced, choreographed and directed by Lynne Salomone Reynaud, under the direction of Brigitte Gauci Borda, with support from assistant choreographer Sue Vassallo and the contribution of Aldo Cauchi Savona as photographer for Chlikk Photography.

Lacrimosa is a production based on the ill-treatment of humankind and human emotion. As the title suggests, the performance depicts ‘tearful’ experiences. The message that Lacrimosa seeks to convey is two-fold: the realisation of the hurt that one’s words and actions can cause, and the courage and strength it takes to accept yourself for who you are and rise above it.

The performance is divided into three parts (or three ‘tearful’ experiences):

The first is a story about a troubled child whose cries for help fall upon deaf ears. Ignored and unheard by a society that is too self-involved to open their hearts and their eyes to the pain and suffering that exists around them.

The gravity of bullying and its consequences forms the second of the ‘tearful’ experiences, reminding the audience that it may be too late to ask for forgiveness. One must think before they act!

Finally the show focuses on stereotypes and stigmatisation: the divisions that we create in our society, using hurtful words and labels.

The final product will be exhilarating, with movements having a certain speed to them that result in a contemporary dance within a ballet vocabulary. The performance has the necessary components to create an environment that one can identify with, enticing the audience to be drawn into the storyline.

The blurring of boundaries between dance, theatre and reality, is one of MDT’s goals, and the experience will leave viewers gripped with, and enveloped in, emotion.

Lacrimosa will premiere on 7 and 8 September, at the MITP theatre in Valletta. Tickets cost €12. The show starts at 8.30pm. Attendance is restricted to adults and those over 12 years of age. Ticket outlets: Brigitte Gauci Borda School of Dance, Vee Gee Bee Art, San Gwann, Malata restaurant,Valletta, or e-mail [email protected]