LOST LETTERS
by Matthew Golding
Concept and direction
Lucia Lacarra and Matthew Golding
Choreographer
Matthew Golding
Choreographic assistant
Gianluca Battaglia
Dancers
Lucia Lacarra, Matthew Golding, Lucia Castellano Luri, Itziar Ducajú Mayans, Francesco Forcina, Carlos López Muñoz, Gabriel Martínez Rodríguez, Manuela Medeiros, Jossehp Abdiel Peñaloza, Eva Nazareth Suár ez Pérez
Music
Sergéi Rachmaninov and Max Richter
Film direction
Matthew Golding and Ekain Albite
Technical management
Celso Hernando
Communication
SautdeBasque Comunicación
Photography
Jesús Vallinas
Co-production
Teatro Arriaga Antzokia, Kursaal Eszena, Teatro Principal de Vitoria-Gasteiz, Festival Internacional de Música y Dan za de Granada
Contributor
Teatros del Canal
With the support of the Basque Government and the Municipality of Zumaia
Acclaimed Basque star Lucia Lacarra presents the first production of her new company, the Lucia Lacarra Ballet. Lost Letters is a show about letters sent from the war front, with choreography by Canadian principal dancer Matthew Golding.
From the trenches. In every war in history, handwritten letters from the front and replies sent from home have provided a vital link between soldiers and their families. But what if one of those letters were lost? Based on a real letter written by gunner Frank Bracey to his wife Win during the First World War, Lost Letters imagines how that woman’s fate might have changed if the letter sent by her beloved husband had never reached her. Lost Letters transforms a true story into an original screenplay and ballet plot.
The poppy of remembrance. Choreographer Matthew Golding built the central scene of Lost Letters around the symbolic poppy of remembrance, a flower used to commemorate the men and women killed in all wars in countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, the United States.
Inspired by John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields, American teacher Moina Michael (1869-1944) wrote the poem We Shall Keep the Faith on 9 November 1918:
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row”.
Michael pledged to always wear a red poppy in memory of those who had served in the war. In 1921, the poppy was adopted as a symbol of remembrance for war veterans by the American Legion Auxiliary and Earl Haig’s British Legion Appeal Fund (later the Royal British Legion). Remembrance Day or Poppy Day is celebrated in Commonwealth countries on 11 November to honour members of the armed forces who died at the front. This Day of Remembrance was established at the end of the First World War.
Music and film. The music for Lost Letters was composed by Richter and Rachmaninov. The film was shot in the flysch, in the hermitage of San Telmo and in the convent of the Basque town of Zumaia, locations well known for filming part of the series Game of Thrones. The screenplay is based on an original idea by Matthew Golding and was directed by Basque director Ekain Albite.
Co-production. Lost Letters is a show produced in co-production with the Teatro Arriaga Antzokia, the Kursaal Eszena, the Teatro Principal de Vitoria-Gasteiz and the Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada, with the collaboration of the Teatros de Canal de Madrid. This production has received support from the Basque Government and the Municipality of Zumaia.
LUCIA LACARRA BALLET
The Lucia Lacarra Ballet Company was founded by the Basque artist and consists of ten dancers who were selected through auditions held at the Teatros de Canal in Madrid in June 2023. It is a neoclassical-contemporary company and is directed by principal dancers Lucia Lacarra and Matthew Golding. One of the objectives of the Lucia Lacarra Ballet Company is to serve as a platform for the professional development of the young members of its corps de ballet. The Lucia Lacarra Ballet Company made its debut in October 2023 at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao.
LUCIA LACARRA | Artistic Director and Principal Dancer
Born in the Basque town of Zumaia, Lucia Lacarra made her professional debut with Víctor Ullate’s ballet company at the age of fifteen. A principal dancer with the Marseille, San Francisco, Munich and Dortmund ballet companies, Lacarra has received the highest honours in the world of dance, including the Nijinsky, Benois de la Danse and Spanish National Dance Awards, and was named ‘Dancer of the Decade’ at the Kremlin Palace. In 2007, she became the first Spanish ballerina to be invited to perform at the Vienna New Year’s Concert. Together with Matthew Golding, she created and produced the shows Fordlandia (2020) and In The Still Of The Night (2021), for which she received the Max Award. In October 2023, she founded her own company, the Lucia Lacarra Ballet Company, with which she premiered Lost Letters (2023). Awarded the Gold Medal for Fine Arts by Spain in 2023, Lacarra received a special Positano Award in September last year and was recently named Honorary Academician of the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts.
MATTHEW GOLDING | Choreographer and principal dancer
Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Matthew Golding won the Youth America Grand Prix and a Prix de Lausanne scholarship to study at the Royal Ballet School, where he graduated. A former principal dancer with the Het Nationale Ballet in Amsterdam and the Royal Ballet in London, Golding has been a guest star at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, the National Ballet of Canada, the English National Ballet and the Hong Kong Ballet, among others. His awards include the Dutch Zwaan Prize and a nomination for the Benois de la Danse. Together with Lucia Lacarra, he created and produced the shows Fordlandia (2020), In The Still Of The Night (2021) and Lost Letters (2023), choreographing the latter two.
