In July an explosion of vital energy comes back on the stage of the Brancaccio Theatre: FUTURO FESTIVAL, conceived by Alessandro Longobardi and directed by the choreographer Alessia Gatta. The Brancaccio Theatre reopens its doors after the long hibernation in which Covid-19 has forced the world of live performances.
It reopens with courage, passion and joy to host the first edition of a container dedicated to contemporary dance and culture: “a month of promotion of dance as an interdisciplinary and experimental artistic trend“, promoted by [MATRICE] N association, in collaboration with Viola Produzioni and BrancaccioDanza association.
Contemporary dance, urban dance and performing arts dialogue with the audience to provide a snapshot of new trends, young dancers and their choreographers.
A MELTING POT of cultures, a CROSSROAD of glances, a COLLECTOR of heterogeneous styles, a PLACE of contamination between different languages, between past and present with a look at the future.
FUTURO FESTIVAL was born in 2021, a year in balance between uncertainties, fears, hopes and desires for change. The Festival welcomes dancers, choreographers, teachers, students, artists, operators and dance enthusiasts from all over the world to meet and inspire each other through the exchange of ideas and through research, turning the Roman summer into an epicenter for contemporary dance.
A pole of cultural attraction, an AGORA’, where to “educate” to the art of dance, in which scholars, enthusiasts and operators can dialogue, confront each other and promote new initiatives.
FUTURO FESTIVAL intends to encourage cultural experience in the area by organising activities capable of conveying the art of dance as a universal language. In fact, it is proposed as an expression of narration through body movement and as a liberation of the ego. In this way, dance identifies itself with a journey through the folds of the human soul that filters the emotional states translated into movement to the rhythm of music, inevitably in a subjective way. Everything, however, is experienced as a transfer of energy.
It also aims to be the engine for an encounter between generations of young dancers, world of production and audience.
For its first edition, Futuro Festival opens a new door to contemporary dance and culture, the one of the Brancaccio Theatre.
The project was born during an uncertain, contradictory and difficult worldwide historical period, in collaboration with Alessandro Longobardi, artistic director of the Brancaccio Theatre – managed by Viola Produzioni -, whom I thank for having entrusted me with the artistic direction of the Festival, which aims to satisfy the urgency of a renewed design for future universes.
A heterogeneous meeting of people and their perspectives, a place of contamination between different languages united by the desire to share, for an intrinsic will to educate to listening, thinking and exchanging. A fertile environment able to welcome both internationally renowned choreographers and a new generation of artists and dancers, as well as teachers, students, operators and dance enthusiasts who can inspire each other through a dialogue that is not only verbal but also physical and musical.
In particular, to promote dance as an interdisciplinary and experimental artistic trend, the programme foresees the staging of performances characterised by strong and specific identities, reflecting the variety of stimuli pursued by the artists. A reflection on humanity starts from the investigation of the body and develops into a creative work of aesthetics of movement. The choreographic experimentation gives life to diversified poetics that, however, are connected to each other because they all nourish dance as a communicative vehicle. Gesture ideas, scenic actions, wide-ranging urban contaminations, returns to the origins, journeys into the past made up of traditions and folklore enter the vocabulary of contemporary dance, which is sometimes narrative, sensitive, poetic, and sometimes evocative, abstract, suggestive, always accompanied by particular attention to the musical aspect, which is also heterogeneous.
On 5 July, the festival opens with the panel discussion “re- movēre” – move again, a reflection on the cultural artistic content as a mean of inclusion and enhancement of the territory. Afterwards, the first guest company, the Anglo-Catalan Humanhood with the pas de deux Sphera which, on the second night, is preceded by DJ Lil’Jean, a leading figure in Rome’s House Dance community and the “Ballroom Scene”. The Festival continues with the Zappalà Danza company, a pillar of Italian contemporary dance that presents “La Nona”, for the first time in Rome, and “Crolli”, the first new multidisciplinary debut for the [Ritmi Sotterranei] contemporary dance company, with OTI – Officine del Teatro Italiano. Next on the playbill, from France, the Compagnie Hervé KOUBI which, with Boys Don’t Cry, offers its own new language born from the influence of urban and contemporary dance; a duo of young and visionary choreographers/dancers, Riva&Repele Company with “Lili Elbe Show” reflects on the themes of acceptance and tolerance, through the narration of a biographical event. This evening is shared with “Keeping Warm”, another debut for [Ritmi Sotterranei], in which three women have to face the apparently hostile landscape they inhabit. Two more companies close the month: Silvia Marti’s KoDance company with “Clorophilia”, a work strongly inspired by nature that explores the possibility of redemption for the human being, and “50MIN/MQ” by E_SPERIMENTI Dance Company/GDO, which shows the irony, lightness and theatricality that have emerged to face limitations and conditioning. Last but not least, the Soul Scapes Collective by Gianni Wers with “Water”, a reading of the human condition through the water metaphor by using house dance language. At the opening of “Water”, the students taking part in #UNMETROCUBO workshop will perform.
Thus, Futuro Festival aims to be a container of experiences aimed at generating a beauty capable of enlivening spirits: a gift that Art is capable of giving us if we are open to mutual support, far-sighted and responsible towards today but, above all, towards tomorrow. A festival, as its etymology reminds us, that is conceived as a party, dedicated to those who make a living from dancing but that is also inclusive by nature, with collateral activities, such as exhibitions, participatory works, debates, conferences, dj sets, live music in addition to performances, workshops and stages to educate the new generations of dancers and to raise awareness among the entire citizenry to rediscover culture that can undoubtedly lead us to change towards a rebirth.
Alessia Gatta
[Artistic Director FUTURO FESTIVAL]
Futuro Festival: a new container to enter the world of Dance.
A name to look beyond, to plan the Future after this dystopian experience that is Covid-19. From great misfortunes spring changes, good and bad are treasured, new visions come to life.
Dance can be one of the paths to live the Future, although in our country it is not yet popular, despite having thousands of young people who study and practice it.
Then …………. Something gets lost.
Perhaps this lack of attention can be overcome by giving more space to skills and training and less to shortcuts that only pay off in the short term, but do not lead to the conscious growth of the audience. The choice of Alessia Gatta as Artistic Director moves towards this direction.
Let us breathe again, let us breathe new air. We invite new companies in addition to the already well-known ones to tickle the audience’s curiosity to create a new trend.
We open in July, with a reduced capacity (500 seats), in an indoor space that has just invested in COVID-FREE CERTIFIED safety, through the insertion of XHP photocatalysing bactericidal sanitising lamps in the air system, for a 99% reduction in viruses and bacteria.
In short, safer in than outside.
I hope the spectators will understand this effort. Not a challenge but an act of Love, without expecting any reward. Now the future is in the hands of the audience.
Long live dance in all its forms. Long live the new generations.
Let the Future Festival begin.
Alessandro Longobardi
[Artistic Director Teatro Brancaccio]
