Baila España 2025

Saudade de Ti / Nothing Happens 
Carlos Aller und Cecilia Bartolino

Saudade

Saudade is a complex and subjective feeling, often described as a bittersweet longing for a past time, such as a lost love. Saudade is the burning desire to return to the past and live the life we once had. “This nostalgia is often associated with old age but can occur at any stage of life. We long for experiences, places, things, people, and even ourselves to return to what once was.” (Carlos Aller)

With Saudade de Ti, the expressive dancers Carlos Aller and Cecilia Bartolino explore this sometimes intense feeling through a blend of contemporary dance and urban dance with elements of theater. They dive into the longing for what is lost, carrying the desire to heal.

Nothing Happens

Nothing Happens combines absurdity and irony to uncover the conflicts of modern life, often hidden behind a mask of normality. The performers shift between fractured identities trapped in endless, surreal loops. Their sometimes exaggerated movements capture the dilemmas of our time, while the voices of an artificial intelligence drift through like echoes from a dream—a dream addressing hidden realities, shifting identities, silent wounds, and the ongoing digitization of life. Inspired by Schrödinger’s Cat and Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, the protagonists navigate the unresolved paradoxes of society.

Direction, Choreography, Dramaturgy: Carlos Aller in collaboration with Cecilia Bartolino | Dance: Cecilia Bartolino and Carlos Aller | Lighting Design: Marco di Nardo and Carlos Aller | Music Arrangements: Carlos Aller

Carlos Aller and Cecilia Bartolino combine contemporary and urban dance with methods from dance theater to build an empathetic connection with the audience. They use their bodies and expressive dancer personalities, drawing inspiration from theater, partnering, contact improvisation, and dance styles such as breakdance and hip-hop. Carlos and Cecilia tour successfully as a duo and have won awards at the choreographic competitions in Burgos & New York and the International Solo Dance Theater Festival in Stuttgart.