They are a supportive and passionate community that shares the same passion for dance and in particular for Street Dance, 600 dancers from all over Italy are ready to invade Lucca for the fifth edition of the event, “Prime Contest”which will be held on April 13th and 14th. Exceptional location, the San Francesco auditoriumin a combination of history and modernity already tested for dance last year in the San Romano auditorium. First Contests in fact it reaches its fifth editionthe first three were held in Pisa and since 2023 the event has landed within the walls of Lucca.
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This morning (28 March) the event was presented in the auditorium of the Agorà civic library, in the presence of the culture councilor of the Municipality of Lucca, Mia Pisanoof the event organizer and owner of dance school “Smash hip hop Poin1” in via dei Bichi in San Marco, Marialisa Puntonitogether with the other organizer Camilla Sartori it’s at Riccardo Facchini from the Fineco Bank main sponsor of the event.
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“Street dance is a segment of dance that was not yet represented in our city and we are happy to be able to do this with the event First Contests – declares the councilor for culture Mia Pisano -. Behind these shows there are many young people who dedicate themselves and organize them, carrying forward their passions and us we want to give them space because they are our future. This event is included in the Municipality’s calendar, Live Lucca and it takes place in a spring period of the year, bringing a breath of liveliness to the Lucca spring”.
“The event will be held from 13 to 14 April at the San Francesco complex in Lucca And in my center ‘Smash hip hop Poin1’ – says the organizer of Prime Contest, Marialisa Puntoni -. the program will be full of initiatives: on Saturday and Sunday mornings it will be held inside the school workshops with international teachers, on Saturday afternoon we will move to San Francesco for the Freestyle battles. In the evening there will be a beautiful party at 1111 Piazza Antelminelli in front of the Duomo. There Sunday there will be the key event, the choreographic competition in which we have numerous crews from all over Italy who come to Lucca to participate. It’s a competition, but a healthy competition, where the level is very highbut in which we all know each other and therefore we try to come together and create a supportive and passionate community that shares the same passion for dance and especially for street dance”.
Last year Prime Contest took to Lucca more than 1000 peoplebetween dancers, crew and simple enthusiasts, this year the ceiling of 2000 people has already been exceeded.
“This year we have a new category – continues Marialisa -, the ‘Prime Best dance crew’where we invited four icons of Italian street dance. For us this category is very important because it is new and allows us to showcase Italian excellence. With the help of these four icons, on stage we could see the best crews in the industry”.
Main sponsor for the second year in a row, Fineco Bank: “It’s a pleasure to participate for the second year to sponsor this event – says Riccardo Facchinetti of Fineco Bank -. Fineco cares a lot participate in events that promote inclusion and above all that give something back to the area. Fineco it has been present in Lucca for over 20 years, with 12 professionals and that makes us one local bank, in the local area. For all this, it is very important for us to meet young people and create a relationship with them right away with future generations, who will be our future customers.”
The mornings of Saturday 13 April and Sunday 14 April event participants will be engaged in workshops taught by international teachers in the center “Smash hip hop Poin1” in via dei Bichi in San Marco. International teachers will also be part of the jury together with other Italian professors. The jury expands, from the 4 teachers of last year, to the 6 of this edition, 3 of whom come from France and the United Kingdom and the rest from Italy.
The afternoon of Saturday 13 April the spotlight will be turned on on the competition and space will be made for young people with the under 13 and under 17 categories and other specific ones depending on the discipline of the dancers.
The afternoon of Sunday 14th April will be the time for the choreographic competition which includes both individual and group performances, with their own choreography. There will be no shortage of live DJ sets with the involvement of the public.
The event was included in Live Lucca calendar and he got it the contribution of the Municipality of Lucca, Fineco Bak main sponsor, Paolini Digital Print and Acsi.
Paolo Baracchino of Acsi, wanted to pay homage to the event with a video intervention, recorded for the occasion: “I thank the organizers of this fantastic event and I bring greetings from the board of directors and the national president of Acsi. Prime Contest has obtained national recognition over the years and is increasingly taking on an international character. Thank you therefore to everyone, to the staff, to the municipal administration, mayor Pardini, to the councilors Barsanti and Pisano for the support of our association. Lucca is increasingly known throughout the world thanks to events like this.”
