Pur ti Miro explores the themes of tenderness, eroticism, and the desire for physical intimacy in Baroque music and poetry, viewed from the perspective of contemporary dance, portrayed by contemporary people and bodies.

 

This choreographically composed concert evening draws inspiration from a 1991 essay by musicologist Susan McClary. In "Feminine Endings," McClary describes the language of Baroque music, with its circular, repeating bass figures and cyclical musical structures, as an artistic reflection of a gentle, indulgent eroticism, beyond the climax-driven, potentially violent musical Eros that, according to McClary, became established in the 19th century. This also fits with the often fluid gender roles in Baroque vocal works. Based on McClary's analysis, the Baroque repertoire is scoured for those moments of static erotic indulgence and compiled into a multilingual, stylistically diverse program, with brief excursions into modern music and the Eurovision Song Contest.

 

From operatic scenes by Henry Purcell, Claudio Monteverdi, and Jean-Philippe Rameau, to folk songs by Benjamin Britten, instrumental chaconnas by Johann Christoph Pezel and Georg Philip Telemann, to one of the most enchanting madrigals of the Italian Baroque from the pen of Barbara Strozzi, the dancers, choir, and instrumental ensemble search for ostinato patterns, for musical and physical expressions of love affections and total devotion.