This summer has been full of outdoor programs in parks and arenas, respecting the new safety standards. Some example: in Nervi, a glorious ballet festival, the first to see the light in Italy in the 1950s, with Love by the skilled entertainer Giuliano Peparini, starring Eleonora Abbagnato between Vivaldi and Sinatra, at Ravenna Festival, in Cagliari, with the performance of real couples of classical dancers (Silvia Azzoni / Alexander Ryabko, IanaSalenko / Marian Walter, Eleonora Sevenard / Denis Rodkin, Maria Kochetkova / Sebastian Kloborg), under the direction of the fearless gala specialist Daniele Cipriani; and after the contemporary dance solos for one spectator at a time in Bolzano Danza designed ad hoc by authors such as Carolyn Carlson, Rachid Ourandame, Michele Di Stefano. After all of these, Dance is back on stage, in phase three, with performances in a similar format to the ones we used to enjoy in the happy time of “pre-virus”.
The news
The evenings at La Scala are announced, with Roberto Bolle again protagonist of the evergreen Bolero by Ravel / Béjart in October. The four seasons by Peparini for the dancers of the Rome Opera will be on stage at the Comunale of Bologna, after its debut at the Circus Maximus in July. The creations at the Theatre Massimo in Palermo are entrusted to the new dance director, Davide Bombana, born at La Scala, with a German career, who has already proposed his new Ripar-Tänze at the Theatre of Verdura.
“Armonie of Art Festival”
The highlight of the Armonie of Art Festival, in the Calabrian archaeological site of Scolacium, ended this August of “restarts”: an evening around the diva of Italian ballet in the world, Alessandra Ferri, with Italian-English partners and guests, including Federico Bonelli and the young talent from the London Royal Ballet Giacomo Rovero.
The 40thEast-West Festival of Rovereto and Trento
In September, between indoors and outdoors, the 40th East-West Festival of Rovereto and Trento inaugurates the Phase three with many Italian artists of contemporary dance, more than ever to the honors in this new season. But not only Italians.
On the bill: Centaur by Pontus Lidberg with the Danish Dance Theater, Sonoma (soma, body, and sonum, sound) by the Spanish visionary Marcos Morau, the Iberian duo Mal Pelo, the circus of Lucas Condro, and then the naked plasticity of Luna Cenere, Michela Lucenti at MART and at the Bell of Peace, Pablo Girolami, Daniele Ninarello, Matteo Levaggi, Antonio Viganò, Silvia Dezulian and Filippo Porro in Overpass / out of place actions on dance, sound, sculpture, mountains in Predazzo.
A special focus is on the Belarusian Arkadi Zaides, a human rights activist already known for a work on the burning issue of the Palestine-Israel conflict, now in Talos, inspired by European research on a computer system to monitor borders.
And finally the Centennial Solos: ten dancers from top European groups, including Rambert Dance Company, Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, Michael Clark Company, interpret solos taken from the vast repertoire of the post-modern deity Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) on the wire of fifty years of work, accompanied by the music of John King 100tone-candles.
Veronese theatrical summer in September
The Veronese theatrical summer, with the new artistic direction of Carlo Mangolini, takes place in September at the Roman Theater. With regard to dance, it focuses on Silvia Gribaudi, Camilla Monga, Cristiana Morganti, ex Pina Bausch, Chiara Frigo.
Europe factory in Florence
Europe factory in Florence (3 September – 8 October) puts together beautiful names in the dance area: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas in Violin Phase and Enzo Cosimi in I love my sister, and again Salvo Lombardo, Adriano Bolognino, Sara Lupoli, Daniele Ninarello, Annamaria Ajmone, Sciarroni, Ninarello and Rizzo, and an immersive experience in the materials of twenty years of contemporary dance, Dance Wall curated by visual designer Tommaso Arosio with Andrés Morte Téres.
On stage in Milan
Milan begins again with On dance by Roberto Bolle in a safe format, between live and screen, and with a show full of all kinds of dance. It was broadcasted on the 12th by the Italian Galleries. The White Dance, a collective dance which people could learn online, has been performed at the Sforzesco Castle on Sunday 13th by dancers all dressed in white.
Milano Oltre, from September 17 to October 11, must give up the presence of some Chinese companies, but takes revenge with Zappalà Danza, Davide Valrosso, Manfredi Perego / Balletto Teatro of Turin, Cristina Kristal Rizzo, Simona Bertozzi, MK by Michele Di Stefano, Mario Coccetti / S Dance Company on masculinity / femininity, to explode with energy with Les Nuits Barbares by the Franco-Algerian Hervé Koubi, an all-male piece for dancers arriving from all over the Mediterranean.
The highlight of this edition is the controversial ideological remake-overthrow of the nineteenth-century Excelsior, a hymn to progress and civilization from the point of view of colonial nations. This new version by Salvo Lombardo in an anti-racist, anti-post-colonialist, anti-global-capitalist key: a warrior and countercurrent job for his group Chiasma of Rome.
Turin Dance
Turin dance, between September and October, lines up Silvia Gribaudi, Simona Bertozzi, Daniele Ninarello and Cristina Kristal Rizzo and Mario Coccetti, but also Marco D’Agostin, Alessio Maria Romano, Ambra Senatore from France, the inspired Marco Chenevier (Confined by Paradiso) and then the Israeli Hofesh Schechter, the Argentine Daniel Proietto in pieces by the Norwegian Lucien Øyen, 3S by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, associate artist, the Parisian-Indian Shantala Shivalingappa, beloved by Charkaoui himself and also by Pina Bausch, in a creation by Aurélien Bory, artist of a physical theater between dance and circus. The highlight of the event is Dimitris Papaioannou in A New In-Between Project, proposed in collaboration with the Reggio Emilia Open Festival, where Aterballetto will make its debut on 6 October with Johan Inger’s long-awaited Don Juan. There will also be in Reggio Hofesch Schechte, Daniele Ninarello, Collettivo Cinetico& Alessandro Sciarroni, the MK company and the MM group with the magnificent Duo d’Eden by Maguy Marin (1986), enveloping like an infinite life.
Venice Biennale of Dance
At the Venice Biennale Danza, from 13 to 25 October, Marie Chouinard presents her portfolio of “authors” engaged in “acts of creation” by questioning the great theme AnDNoW !, which is happening now: at the center, many authors-thinkers immersed in today’s European mood, in which the body gives itself more and more word and voice. There are also male bow figures such as Olivier Dubois and Noé Soulier with Frédéric Tavernini. Golden Lion to an out of class, Madrid-based, La Ribot, with her sarcastic performances, where she wears only a chair and a flashy “Se vende”; Silver Lion to the Italian Claudia Castellucci, from the well-known family of stage artists, a concrete philosopher of dance rhythm.
