A four-hour dance opera for a gala evening in Palazzo Pisani Moretta, on the Grand Canal in Venice. The performers were the people of the walls — the palazzo's own residents come to life — appearing and disappearing in candlelight, shadow and reflection, so that no guest could be sure who was performing and who might be a mannequin.
In the candlelit entrance hall the characters stood as still as statues, then turned, or asked a passing guest for a glass of wine. Upstairs, eight rooms held eight different stories, so each guest saw a different show. A soprano and a castrato threaded arias through the night, and the whole evening drew on Venice itself: water, light and shadow, masks and mirrors, commedia dell'arte and Baroque opera — what is real, and what is not.
Each dancer built a character with Corina in the weeks before, and Tereza Kopecká designed their costumes as a contemporary spin on the Baroque — a theatrical recreation, not a reproduction. On a second evening the same characters hosted a masked ball to a Venetian quartet in period costume, handing out masks and teaching Baroque dances until every dancer had a guest for a partner.
It seems they were very convinced we were indeed people of the walls. Many asked which opera we were performing.Corina Kinnear, after the evening
