DeNada's Madame Butterfly: Arts Council England Funds the Company's New Production

DeNada Dance Theatre has been awarded Arts Council England funding to create its new full-length narrative production: a Caribbean reimagining of Puccini’s opera, Madame Butterfly. 

Choreographed by National Dance Awards nominee Carlos Pons Guerra, Mariposa (working title) will transport Puccini’s iconic orientalist libretto to a distant Caribbean port in the 1950’s, and will be a tale of sacrifice, transgenderism and hope between a Caribbean rent boy and an American sailor. 

Mariposa will follow extensive research into Hispanic-Caribbean views on gender and sexuality, which Pons Guerra undertook in the Dominican Republic in January 2016, with support from the British Council and Arts Council England. It also follows a prior research and development phase guided by international dance dramaturge Peggy Olislaegers, which took place in spring 2016. 

With costume and set design by Ryan Laight, lighting by Barnaby Booth, and performed by an exciting cast soon to be announced, Mariposa will be created in summer 2016 and will have preview performances in Leeds and London in September 2016, prior to touring in 2017/18. 

DeNada would like to thank its partners in the project, namely Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Rambert, The Lowry, Yorkshire Dance, Spin Arts Management, the British Council, Arts Council England, Cervantes Institute, the National Dance School of the Dominican Republic and the Ministry for Culture of the Dominican Republic for their invaluable support. 

For further information, please contact DeNada / Spin Arts Management. 

For press enquiries, please contact Simon Harper Public Relations. 

Pictured: DeNada Dance Theatre in rehearsal for Carlos Pons Guerra's Mariposa (working title). Photo: Stephen Wright