Alcestis and Admetus, a classical couple and a famous subject. The man is supposed to die and can only be saved if another sacrifices himself/herself for him. The woman does it. Bride and groom meet in strangely puppet-like, fragmentary movements. A hunchbacked priest raises the curtain, one becomes familiar with the lasting relationship between the two until the dividing lines between love and death are blurred.

The sacrifice for love, already a popular theme in the Classical period and performed in Euripides’ drama »Alcestis« in 438 BC in Athens. In the 17th and 18th centuries, several composers used the legend as material for operas, such as Jean-Baptiste Lully (1674), Georg Friedrich Händel (1727) and Christoph Willibald Gluck (1767). And finally, Rainer Maria Rilke composed his poem »Alkestis« on the same topic. Self-sacrifice, devoting oneself to another, love and partnership as a current question amid images of reduced dynamics and extreme deceleration of passion.

Antonella Bertoni, born in Rome, made her debut in 1988 as a dancer with Carolyn Carlson in Paris. Michele Abbondanza studied with Merce Cunningham in New York. Since 1989 they have been creating their own productions and are among the most innovative dance companies of Italy. With the duo dance performance »Terramara«, they were guest performers at the 1992 euro-scene Leipzig in the Ernst-Beyer-Haus.