MANBUHSA
2019

Company
IVONA
Choreography
Pablo Girolami
Dancers
Lou Thabart, Guilherme Leal
Music
Alma de Terra – A Macaca & Peter Power, Ugate Sooraj – Jota Karloza, Hey Furtila (hey Perky) – Miss Clo, Demaso – Holed Coin
Costumes
Caterina Politi
Production
House of IVONA
Duration
15 or 35 minutes
Premiere
1st of June 2019 – Certamen Coreografico de Madrid
Awards
– Premio TWAIN Direzioni Altre 2019;
– Audience award – Certamen coreográfico de Madrid 2019;
– Audience award and performance and technical award – CortoinDanza 2019, Cagliari
With the support of
– ResiDanceXL – AnticorpiXL – Network Giovane Danza d’autore coordinated by L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora di Mondaino;
– Lavanderia a Vapore, Colegno;
– DANCEHAUSpiù, Milano;
– MIC (Ministero Italiano della Cultura)
Manbuhsa was born from the image of two young beings playing freely in a wide, open field. Their encounter sets the tone for a journey shaped by curiosity, trust, and instinct. One invites the other to connect to a deeper rhythm—something innate, almost ancestral—that awakens movement, attention, and intuition.
The starting point of our research was the idea of an urban exodus: bodies packed into a train leaving the city, not out of choice but necessity. A desire to escape the confinement, anxiety, and noise of urban life. From this rupture, a sense of solidarity and learning emerges. A relationship is formed—one that oscillates between guidance and mutual discovery.
As doubt slowly gives way to courage, a new space opens up: a path for play and desire.
Manbuhsa unfolds with a physical language that is both precise and spontaneous, echoing the intricate rituals found in the animal world. The movement draws inspiration from the delicate tensions of courtship—gestures that are at once instinctual and intentional, gentle and wild. The choreography sometimes evokes the elegance of cranes or the electric precision of the peacock spider—not as a direct imitation, but as a mirror to human codes of attraction and connection.
In this work, we explore how bodies communicate without words, how trust is built in motion, and how instinct can lead us back to something essential.
Note:
The work can be adapted for various indoor, outdoor and site specific venues. Manbuhsa has been developed to a full evening piece with 5 dancers called Manbuhsona. Please view its dossier for detailed information.