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14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 MAY 2019 CULĊTURE ART BEST-SELLING novel and film Perfume, graces the main stage of Malta's national theatre, Teatru Manoel with a striking contemporary dance per- formance brought to you by Moveo Dance Compa- ny in collaboration with Teatru Manoel. Set in a world that ex- plores the emotional con- nection between different smells and the emotions they bring, Perfume en- chants with irresistible seduction and compelling movement. This haunting perfor- mance is brought to life by Choreographer and Artistic Director Dorian Mallia to an original score by Albert Garcia with costumes constructed by none other than local fashion designer Ritienne Zammit. 2019 is a big year for Mo- veo Dance Company as this formidable group of dancers moves into their tenth year of existence. What started out as an idea for one of Malta's foremost dancers, Dorian Mallia, Moveo has now grown into a company that has represented Mal- ta with tours locally and internationally including USA, India, Europe and the Gulf along with co-di- rector and fellow dancer Diane Portelli. Perfume will be one of many other notable shows that Moveo Dance Company have brought to the Manoel Stage. Other memorable works include; The Picture of Dorian Gray (2014), It-Tfajla tal-Ghonella (2015), Carmen (2017) & El Tango (2018). Perfume takes place on May 10 & 11 at Teatru Manoel, Valletta. Booking is available on- line on www.teatruma- noel.com.mt Perfume: A contemporary dance performance AFTER 27 years, well-known art historian and cultural an- thropologist Veronica Veen presents an updated and ex- tended edition of her success- ful book The Goddess of Malta - the Lady of the Waters and the Earth, about the feminine aspects of the neolithic cultures on both islands. Back in 1992, the first edition was enthusiastically reviewed in almost all Maltese media. Many copies of the character- istic purple booklet were sold to Maltese and foreign readers alike. Its content, founded on new research and with many a game-changing theory, has obviously been very influen- tial, given the wide-spread echos in later books, articles and in situ performances by tourist guides. The book was revolutionary in several respects: the neolith- ic cultures of Malta and Gozo, covering the impressive span of 5800-2500 BC, were treated in the context of the interna- tional 'goddess cultures', for that matter a term coined by the author. Chapters as Pot, House, Temple, Tomb: Inter- woven Manifestations of the Goddess, or Earthenware as a Key, or The Weeping God- dess, probably constituted the first serious symbolic anthro- pological exercises in the field of prehistory, and succeeded to trace substantial parts of the 'symbolic system' of these cultures, that is, the way these Gozitan and Maltese people experienced their world and their existence and material- ised this by symbolic means. One of the most fundamen- tal insights was that the early neolithic Ghar Dalam culture appeared to be foremost wa- ter-oriented, while the later, famous Temple people felt deeply connected with the earth, hence the title of the book. The author decided to pub- lish an updated version of the book, particularly since the goddess concept, that per- vades all the chapters, has meanwhile come under some pressure. Next to a convincing and professional use of the term, based on sound archaeological research and cultural anthro- pological knowledge, a true flood of amateurish, semi- spiritual and commercial noises found their way, mak- ing the good exceptions look questionable as well. Reason enough for an in-depth evalu- ation of the harassed concept. A further reason was the need to highlight and elabo- rate an important theoreti- cal innovation, that Veen had first introduced in her book: the concept of neolithic clus- tering. Although she had added a definition in the German edi- tion (1997), this basic sym- bolic method of neolithic cul- tures, enabling us to un-riddle their symbolism, deserved more attention, supported by many an illustrative example. With all these new, enlight- ening extras The Goddess of Malta will be fit and durable for at least another quarter of a century. Second, extended edition of The Goddess of Malta out now Dorian Mallia