banned as immoral were "Ta-ra-ta-ta" (dealing forthrightly with smoking), "La canzone di Marinella", and "L'importante è finire" (alluding to sex without love). Mina's cool act featured sex appeal, public smoking, dyed blonde hair, shaved eyebrows, and heavy use of eye make-up. The main themes of Mina's songs were distressing love stories. Her style was to interpret them in a highly dramatic way by using gestures and body language to bring the story alive. Mina's performance was typically characterised by expressive intensity, subtle variations, and original phrasing. The music critic Gherardo Gentili has noted her interpretive skills as such: "By Mina, a word became the word, a note became the note." To demonstrate Mina's vocal range, the composer Bruno Canfora penned the song "Brava", and Ennio Morricone wrote "Se telefonando" with numerous transitions of tonality. More songs were composed exclusively for Mina and arranged for RAI's all-star orchestras for performance on the TV variety series Studio uno, Sabato sera, Canzonissima and Teatro 10. Mina (alongside Carmen Villani) pioneered by combining classic Italian pop and swing music with features of blues, R&B and soul music, particularly in the songs "Se stasera sono qui" and "Deborah". She helped to incorporate new styles into Italian pop music, including nuevo tango, as seen in her duet "Balada para mi muerte" with Ástor Piazzolla. Mogol-Battisti When she altered her musical style in 1969, Mina changed her hairdo from short and straight to long blonde curls, and started to wear a black minidress. Mogol's and Lucio Battisti's first songs, particularly "Insieme" and "Io e te da soli", showcased Mina's blues and soul skills. Around the time of their collaboration, Mina turned toward middle-of-the-road pop. Battisti's melodies were sophisticated and had a complex chord sequence. The songs were characterized by frequent changes of rhythm, pauses, and dialogues between the voice and the orchestra. Another characterizing feature was an instrumental introduction without a rhythmic base. Mina Latina A fan of bossa nova, Mina recorded in Spanish and Portuguese from the start of her career and currently enjoys a fan base in Spain and Latin America. The Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has used Mina's songs in his movie soundtracks. In 2001, Mina published the compilation album Colección Latina. It includes standards in Spanish, as well as Spanish covers of her originals. In 2003, the musical Mina... che cosa sei? based on Mina's songs was staged in Argentina, starring Elena Roger.