ABSTRACT
Nando Taviani takes a couple of steps backward and start with the story of Madam Pauline in Mexico, where the relationship between actors and spectators, within and beyond a mirror, is thorny, asymmetrical and misunderstood. The expedient on which Roberta Carreri has built this mirror-book consists in the oscillation between autobiographical pages, work diaries and technical details. A similar oscillation also organises the work demonstration Traces in the Snow. The story comes down to us as narrated by a spectator, Madam Frances Calderon de la Barca, an American from Boston who was married to the Spanish ambassador. Nando Taviani have recalled the anecdote because it always seemed to me an emblem of theatre and mirrors, and also because it involves humble things, qui pro quo, and dressmaking. He has seen The Whispering Winds work demonstration various times, ever since it appeared fresh and unexpected in public during the Copenhagen ISTA session dedicated to the links between theatre and dance.
