The Students and Faculty

of the Latin Ballet of Virginia present

MOMO

A Dance Theatre work based on the fantasy novel, written by Michael Ende (author of The Neverending Story), about a little girl called Momo, who saves the world from the time thieves all by her special ability to “listen”. A profound message about the concept of time and how it is used by humans in modern societies.

Momo lives outside a big city, within the ruins of an amphitheater. She owns nothing but she has an extraordinary powerful gift: She is a wonderful listener. She does it so well, that by listening she solves the life of whoever talks to her, she brings back their happiness. She creates the most amazing imaginary world to her friends through fantastic games and stories until the day that the “Grey Men” appear. 

They are after the precious lifetime of people – They convince everyone to save their time in the “Bank of Time”. Nobody knows why the grey men want the time for but one think is clear, Nobody has more time to live, and Momo, who everyone needs to spend time with, is the worst impediment to the plans of the grey men. Momo has nothing but a flower in her hand and a tortoise tucked under her arm to fight the vast army of the “grey gentlemen”, but she is the only one able to stop them.

This is a story that gives value to the most important and in danger element of our actual society: What do we do with our time?  

With an innocent title, Momo is considered one of the most important works of modern literature.

Sources: http://www.michaelende.de/en

And translations from the Spanish version of Momo by Michael Ende:

Michael Ende

Biography

Michael Ende was born on 12th November 1929 in Garmisch and died at the age of sixty-five in Stuttgart on 28th August 1995. He was one of the most successful German authors of the post-war period, selling over twenty million books in forty different languages worldwide. His novels such as The Neverending Story, Jim Button, Momo and The Night of Wishes captured the hearts of readers young and old.

Michael Ende was born to Luise Bartholoma (1892 - 1973) and Hamburg painter Edgar Ende (1901 - 1965). Even as a young child, he was influenced by the visionary, surrealistic nature of his father’s artwork, and the imaginary world of painting was as real to him as everyday life.

In Search of the Magic Word

Ende’s quest for the magic word was reflected in his literary endeavour. Through novels, short stories and poetry, Ende strove to guide his readers towards new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. To this end, he believed it was necessary to reconnect the disparate threads of modern life in a new poetic mythology for the contemporary age. In line with the romantic tradition, his quest for the magic word was a search for a story that would conjure the essence of the world as we know it. His attitude, though, was far from schoolmasterly - in keeping with his playful writing, the key to his poetic vision usually lay with the entertainer, the conjurer and joker.

Momo de Michael Ende

 Momo es una niña con una de las habilidades más poderosas de la historia de la literatura; sabe escuchar a las demás personas. Lo hace tan bien que resuelve la vida de quien habla con ella, y les restaura toda su alegría,  y junto a sus amigos, Gigi y Beppo, viven creando los más asombrosos mundos imaginarios, hasta el fatidico día que llegan los hombres grises.

Los hombres grises convencen a todos para ahorrar su tiempo en el banco del tiempo, nadie sabe para que lo quieren o lo que hacen el, pero algo queda claro, ya nadie tiene tiempo para vivir, y la pequeña momo, con la cual las personas necesitan compartir  mucho de su tiempo, se torna en la principal amenaza para sus planes.

Esta es una historia de valoriza el elemento más escaso de la sociedad actual: ¿Qué hacemos connuestro tiempo?. 

Con un titulo inocente Momo es considerada como una obra maestra de la literatura moderna. 

Encubierto en un primer capitulo mágico e inspirador, el autor nos van ingresando en una historia cada vez mas crítica, que sin perder su magia, nos genera momentos de verdadera tristeza como de asombro.

Es importante destacar que leer a este autor significa liberarse de cualquier intención de buscarle una lógica al entorno de la historia, a Michael Ende solo le interesaba maravillar a los lectores y por medio de esto, trasmitir sus mensajes, los cuales nunca fueron triviales.

De este modo se recomienda; leer este titulo como un descanso de la vida cotidiana, con la plena intención de querer despertar una fantasía muy profunda que alguna vez maravillo nuestra infancia.  Aunque su lectura tiene una advertencia; nosuele gustarle aquellos que ya perdieron toda esperanza del mundo donde viven.