Petricore

Zagreb Dance Company invited choreographers Igor Urzelai Hernando and Moreno Solinas to create a new piece in collaboration with the ensemble. Petricore builds on their previous experiences and research, and was shaped through processes in Zagreb, Svetvinčenat and Sassari, where the performers and choreographers met, built trust and developed the work together.

With this project, ZPA continues its practice of engaging with relevant authors from the international dance scene and opening space for new artistic dialogues.

Petricore* celebrates the power of coming together and the complexity of coexistence.
Five performers move as one. Gestures that appear simple reveal themselves as acts of endurance, reminders of the body’s limits and possibilities. The performers dissolve into a collective image where the borders of individuality soften. Their movements call forth both the comfort and the unease of belonging: the pull of conformity, the joy of union, the friction of difference. What surfaces is a paradox — a togetherness that never erases uniqueness, and a uniqueness that only becomes visible through the collective.
Petricore calls us to recognise ourselves in others. Like petrichor — the scent of rain on parched earth — the work evokes the renewal that arises when bodies come together, when humanity rediscovers itself through empathy.

*Petricore (or Petrichor in English) [/ˈpɛtrɪkɔːr/ PET-rih-kor] is the unique scent that arises with the first rain after a long, warm, dry period. This term was coined by Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Grenfell Thomas in 1964 for an article in the journal Nature. It comes from the Ancient Greek words for "rock" [πέτρα, pétra] and "fluid" [ἰχώρ, ikhṓr], the first referring to the earthy organic matter and the second to "lymph" or the fluid that runs through the veins of gods.

Igor x Moreno is the name under which the works created by choreographers Igor Urzelai Hernando and Moreno Solinas – in collaboration with an extended group of artists – are presented. 
Igor x Moreno’s works stem from a fascination for people and what makes us such special animals. They use choreography and mostly non-verbal languages to create experiences which can surprise, energise and unsettle. Their works – highly constructed whilst deeply concerned with liveness – visit and escape different genres and styles.
Igor x Moreno’s creative processes favour questions over answers, action over narration, communication over expression, alterity over diversity, patience over productivity. They don’t see entertainment as their duty, but as a useful communication tool. They work with rigour and playfulness. They value pointlessness.  
The team – based across Europe – gathers in Sardinia and London, from where Igor x Moreno’s works have toured extensively in Europe and also in North and South America, Africa and Asia. Awards and recognitions include the Rudolf Laban Award and National Dance Awards and Total Theatre Awards nominations; their works have been selected for Aerowaves (2011, 2013 and 2015), NID Platform, British Council Showcase and British Dance Edition.
Igor x Moreno are affiliate artists of The Place (London). Their work is currently produced in Sardinia by S’ALA.

Petricore - trailer