Q&A with Luca Truffarelli – The Weight

We got the chance to put some questions to Luca Truffarelli ahead of the opening of The Weight at the Complex this week. you can see the results below.

THE WEIGHT – ​The Depot, The Complex | 08/11/2023 – 11/11/2023
Creator/Director: Luca Truffarelli
Performer: Erin O’Reilly
Choreographic Collaboration: Oona Doherty, Erin O’Reilly
Composition: Greg Haines

From your Biography on your website, you studied Photography. How did you get involved in the world of dance?

I began my career in Italy and worked in the theatre sector for 6 years as an usher and assistant Stage Manager. At the time, I found myself really drawn to the dance pieces that would visit Perugia (My local City). After a few years, I began getting heavily involved in the photography and videography of these shows but always felt like there was more out there that I wanted to see. I moved to Ireland in 2009 and was introduced to Liadain Herriott and Maria Nilsson Waller through a friend from photography college who were creating a piece together. They liked my images and I was introduced to Liv O’Donoghue who was working on her first piece, from there I met Liz Roche and my career really began to take off. I always saw the beauty in the pieces being created around me and knew one day I would like to step out from behind the camera and create a show of my very own. From there and after a decade of working with other companies, mainly dance, I decided that now was the time to make it happen and so The Weight was born.

At what stage did you consider making your own dance production?

I started thinking about The Weight in 2018. I funded my own residency in Italy to develop the piece and worked throughout that time seeking local images and sites for inspiration. I found myself visiting my local area from the thriving main city to the working-class suburbs. I walked through cemeteries and markets and finally found myself sitting with my own mother who provided me with even more inspiration for the piece. I became fascinated with documentaries and news and noticed the way Italy was being portrayed to those outside of my country as this beautiful place of sun, food, and fashion and whilst this is true, it’s only a very surface picture of my country. I wanted to show Irish audiences a glimpse of another side of Italy. My piece is not to make people sad, it is a way of making us think about the lives those around us live and opening our eyes to the wider world. I was given an opportunity to develop the show further with Dublin Dance Festival and then later joined up with Once Off Productions to apply for funding for my piece. After a residency in the renowned Pina Bausch TanzTheater in Wuppertal we are now at our new home in The Complex, Dublin and can’t wait for people to get a glimpse into the world of The Weight.

From the credits of this production, it’s listed as a “Choreographic Collaboration” with Oona Doherty and the solo performer Erin O’Reilly. Can you tell us what that means?

I knew when I started working on this piece that I had all the pieces of The Weight in my head but wanted to make sure I had a way of getting this from my brain to the stage. I have been friends with Oona for many years and knew that I wanted her to join me on this journey. I started giving images to Oona and she was great and provided me with multiple options for each move I wanted in the piece, we would discuss each move and I would ask her to change the structure and style of the movement until I felt as though it conveyed the story behind The Weight. From there Oona and I joined forces with the amazing Erin O’Reilly who brought her own new beauty and fluidity to the piece. Dance for me is all about collaboration, even though the vision was clear in my mind I wanted Erin to feel like she also had ownership of the piece so she could convey it from a place of truth. Although I didn’t have the exact dance terminology for creating the piece Erin was great to work with and always so generous with her talent. I began showing her some of the moves myself, in my mind I thought I was a beautiful dancer… I’m sure this is not true!

It is unusual to have an immersive dance production. How will that work in practice? How close will the audience be to the performer?

It is definitely unusual to have an immersive dance production but to truly convey the story behind The Weight I felt it was vital for the audience to be involved. I wanted audience members to be up and close to the action, each audience member watching will have a different perspective of The Weight.

Can you tell us a little about the music for this production? Did you give the composer, Greg Haines, any specific instructions about the work?

In terms of the music, I got in touch with UK composer Greg Haines as I knew he would be able to express what I was looking for… Cinematic, epic and romantic is what was in my mind since the beginning and I also wanted a piece of music that could speak by itself separate from the other elements of dance and design. I did give Greg a piece by the Polish composer Henryk Górecki (the second movement of his Third Symphony) as a starting point.

Greg’s composition for THE WEIGHT was recorded by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra this September, it was a really exciting and emotional day when Greg’s brilliant score was brought to life by the 35 musicians and conductor Gavin Maloney. I still can’t believe what happened during that session. It’s been one of the best experiences of my life.

It must have been an amazing task to put all this together. What aspects of it surprised you? What was more difficult or easier than you expected?

The best surprise was to realise in the theatre what was exactly in my head. What has been difficult has been the responsibility of balancing the creative flow of putting the work together whilst working within a production schedule – however, we have been fortunate to have quite a bit of time in the theatre here at the Complex.

What are you working on next? Have you any other interesting projects lined up?

I have begun another project with the National Youth Dance Company in the UK with Oona Doherty to premiere in Sadler’s Wells in April 2024.

THE WEIGHT – ​The Depot, The Complex | 08/11/2023 – 11/11/2023