Italia Danza is a project by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and CCN/Aterballetto. The project is realised through the Directorate General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of MAECI and is developed in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institutes and with the support of the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Municipality of Reggio Emilia.
The core of Italia Danza is the idea of crossing the symbolic places of Italian culture in the world, the Italian Cultural Institutes, Embassies, and diplomatic headquarters through site-specific performances imagined to inhabit palaces, halls and auditoriums, but also small monumental or urban spaces. The MicroDanze (MicroDances), with which the National Choreographic Centre/Aterballetto of Reggio Emilia has specialised in site-specific performance, are emblematic of this project. These are short creations signed by Italian and international choreographers that have already been exhibited in highly suggestive places such as the Acropolis Museum in Athens, at the National Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, at Les Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels, and in Brescia, Italian Capital of Culture 2023. By imagining that the headquarters of Italian Embassies and Cultural Institutes can be transformed into surprising spaces where dance can be discovered, the performances focus attention on a fundamental aspect of Italian creativity, the contemporary art, capable of creating new languages and new audiences.
The first phase of the project took place in November and December 2023 in Prague, Brussels, Zagreb, Stockholm, and Dakar. In spring 2024, the initiative continues to expand to new destinations: Sofia, Cologne, Oslo, and Madrid.
In Cologne, it is presented by the Italian Cultural Institute on the occasion of the International Dance Day.
It will take place in the Institute spaces in two paths, at 06:30 pm and at 07:30 pm.
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EPPUR SI MUOVEChoreography Francesca Lattuada
Music Ludwig van Beethoven (Sinfonia n. 7 - Secondo movimento - Allegretto)
Costume design Bruno Fatalot
Dancer Clément Haenen
Duration 5’
Wrapped in the elegant and impalpable costume by Bruno Fatalot, a dancer moves solemnly on a barrel-pedestal, pulled by the painful and mysterious note of Beethoven's
Allegretto. His dance fascinates and seduces, as impressive as a prayer song.
NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE Choreography Angelin Preljocaj
Music AIR (Jean-Benoit Dunckel, Nicolas Godin)
Dancers Arianna Kob, Matteo Fiorani
Duration 9’
Near life experience is a quest into different states of the body, states which relate to intermediary sensations. It is an attempt to remove oneself from space and time. A sort of eclipse of the self, a quest through this imaginary amnios – a new expression in the space left by the body.
AN ECHO, A WAVEChoreography Philippe Kratz
Sound designer Tommaso Michelini
Dancers Federica Lamonaca, Giovanni Leone
Duration 15’
There is probably no other view like that of the sea that can come close to explaining the difficult concept of eternity. Looking at its quite endless blue surface, we can understand how impermanent we are, how small and limited, like the proverbial drops in an ocean. The sea is a place of wonder, of dreams and promise, of an overwhelming charm that conveys a great serenity. It hypnotises us, absorbs us and can fill us with spiritual wonder.
Watching the flow of a dancer's movement, we sometimes find that natural, uninterrupted motion of sea surfaces. And two people dancing always go through different moods, contrasting emotions, proximity and distance.
A GIG Choreography and costume design Diego Tortelli
Music Atom TM, Son Lux
Costume production Nuvia Valestri
Dancers Ana Patricia Alves Tavares, Nolan Millioud
Duration 6’
A "gig" is an opening or closing performance. Something short that is used to warm up the audience or to say "good night" to whoever has come to see us. In this new
MicroDanza, Diego Tortelli uses the two dancers to closely touch the audience's gaze, as if it were a small surprise in a framework where a performance was unexpected, a small "gig".
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