Maratona

In a Roman suburb in the early ‘50s, on the twenty-fourth day of a dance marathon. The dancers, exhausted after 552 continuous hours of dancing, are only moving on the dance floor as if in slow motion. A cash prize for the best couple for a sprint session is intended to liven things up again. Among the contestants, Gianni has good prospects of winning, but his partner Sandra has to give up, worn out. A new day dawns: Gianni is provided with food and fresh clothes by his girlfriend Celestina. Only he and his new partner Margot are in a position to carry on with the torture with composure and dignity. A famous film diva and ballerina appears and uses the marathon to promote her new film. The organiser uses the publicity to place new bets on the winner. The marathon approaches its end and only two couples are left – Gianni and Margot, Giancarlo and Lisa. Gianni is on the verge of a breakdown but with the consent of the organisers is not disqualified but doped with injections. Margot has to give up. Gianni dances on alone, in a trance. Lisa and Giancarlo give up. Gianni is the winner. Acclaimed by the crowd, he stands there alone with the trophy – and falls down dead. 

"Visconti and I drafted this piece for Jean Babilée and his Parisian company “Les Ballets Jean Babilée” after Horace McCoy’s often filmed novel “They shoot horses, don’t they?” in 1956, but due to various organizational problems the World Première did not take place until a year later in Berlin. This work is an attempt at neo-realistic dance and musical theatre using al rock ‘n’ roll music, Latin American dance and Italian pop music, whereas a pointedly classical tonality oriented towards the baroque prevail in the orchestra. The “modern” dance music on stage – partly live, partly from tapes or records – can and should be freely varied by the respective groups on the basis of the melodic and harmonic material, and be adapted to the dance style of the time, following Harald Banter’s model presented in the score."