Shame is a theme that has left a mark on the history of the city of the Sassi. It has further developed in the candidacy dossier of Matera as European Capital of Culture 2019. The theme was the starting point of the show “The Paradise Lost. Leela ”by the Israeli contemporary dance company Vertigo Dance, choreographed by Noa Wertheim. Cava del Sole was the the evocative setting of the world premiere performance that have been staged on 6 and 7 July in front of about 2000 spectators.
Like most projects of Matera 2019 cultural program, this show was the outcome of a co-creation process that the Matera Basilicata 2019 Foundation conducted alongside one of the main national cultural partners, the Teatro Stabile in Naples - National Theater with the Campania Festival Foundation – “Napoli Teatro Festival Italia” and the contribution of the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Israel in Italy.

"Paradise Lost. Leela ”stems from the encounter between these realities and the Vertigo Dance Company. Founded in Jerusalem over twenty-seven years ago by Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al, it is committed to promoting artistic creation combined with a strong sense of social, environmental and community responsibility.
It is a production created specifically to be performed first in Matera and then in the Teatro Grande in Pompei, where the night performance was staged on 11, 12 and 13 July as part of the third edition of the "Pompeii Theatrum Mundi" program.

The genesis of the show was unfolded during an informal artistic gathering in a local brunch spot on the morning of Sunday 7 July. The meeting took place in the Church of Santa Maria De Armenis in Matera, a rock hewn complex reopened to the public to host some exhibitions related to Matera 2019 projects, such as the M.E.M.O.RI, the Euromediterranean Museum of Re(f)used Objects co-produced by La luna al guinzaglio. It collects and re-uses "waste" objects belonging to different cultural backgrounds united by the common Mediterranean identity. Seated around the map of the lands overlooking the Mare Nostrum, Israeli artists, creative Lucanians and public from Matera and beyond, came together to discuss the theme of co-creation and shame.

"The distinctive element of the Matera European Capital of Culture 2019 programme - said Ariane Bieou, cultural manager of the Matera Basilicata 2019 Foundation - is that over half of it is the result of a long co-creation process carried out along with the local creative scene. This has enabled a network of connections to be activated both on the territory and with international artists and partners. The process has generated different virtuous outputs, such as experimentation, participation, contamination, public participation in artistic creation. The same method was the basis of the relationship with the Teatro Stabile in Naples, with which we did not merely want to co-produce a show but co-create it. The input was the project “La più bella delle vergogne”, ("The most beautiful of shame"), linked to a prime thematic axis of Matera 2019 cultural program.
The theme was also developed in three projects: “la poetica della vergogna”( "The poetics of shame"), born from a laboratory with inmates from Matera’s casa circondariale, it has become a theater show entitled Humana Vergogna (Human Shame) that made its debut in the penitentiary ; "La bella vergona" (“the beautiful shame”), originated by shame in history and contemporaneity, will be a live performance in one of the lucanian villages of Arbëreshë tradition, with the involvement of the Fura del Baus; “Architettura della vergogna”("Architecture of shame"), through a survey on archive materials, focuses on architecture as a mirror of European values. "The most beautiful of shames" is a prompt to discover how shame can be rethought, transformed, and how it can eventually evolve.
The title chosen for Noa Wertheim’s show is "Paradise Lost. Leela ”, a word that in Sanskrit means a divine game, an existence in which humans are mere pawns. Inspired by the fall of Adam and Eve, the creation "Leela" developes in the borderland between the illusory reality and the cosmic game of God. Here the world appears to be the result of human wills combined with the forces of desire and temptation, dominant engines in man’s existence.
"When I started studying the history of Matera - Noa Wertheim explains -, to discover its conformation with its houses carved into the stone and its tank for collecting water - strikingly similar to the places we come from - , I found all this very inspiring to our show. The relationship between emptiness and fullness, inside and outside that is at the base of this city's construction, is the same that shapes human existence. The man who lives in the cave is the metaphor of the man who lives within the limits of his own body, closed in his interiority and beliefs, like in Plato's allegory of the cave. The motions of dancers during the performance reflect the emotional tensions of human beings towards extremes, white and black, right and left, man and woman, interiority - the soul -, and exteriority - the community ".
Exploring human nature and its bond with the environment has become a real lifestyle for Vertigo Dance, to the point that the company members , together with their families, have embraced a life of sharing, in a co-operative, voluntary community, a kibbutz. In the Vertigo Eco-Art Village everything is sustainable and ecological.
"When I arrived here in Matera - said Noa Wertheim - I found special places full of energy, and a collaborative community, that has the great fortune of counting on a past to be seen not as a shame but as a reunification with the innermost roots of humanity ”.

One of the co-created projects presented during the meeting is dedicated to the theme of exploring the secrets that bind the city inhabitants to their most beloved places : the Atlas of the city’s emotions - La Secretissima camera de lo core, co-produced by the Teatro dei Sassi. A special interactive and multisensory installation features an emotional map based on the stories and memories from the residents of Matera.