The Ucsb Dance Company and the ‘Shift’ project meet for the first time under the Two Towers. At the center of the initiative organized by the Department of Arts is the transmission of the cultural heritage of dance, the relationship between the choreographers of the past and the creativity of the present. A fuse that could light other sparks in the future, because “Bologna has a complex relationship with dance – says Elena Cervellati, curator of the exhibition ‘Eredità viva. Transmission and creativity in dance between the 20th and 21st centuries’ –. It has been a lively city since from a cultural point of view, far too rich, which is why dance always remains a bit marginal. However, we have the Dams, one of the few universities that teaches the history of dance in Italy”.
The two projects, which the La Soffitta Center is hosting from today to Friday, under the name ‘Eredità viva’ are closely connected. On the one hand the ‘Ucsb Dance Company: dance at the University, between the legacy of the twentieth century and future prospects’ (today) and on the other ‘Shift. Training and creation’ (Thursday and Friday). The University of California Santa Barbara Dance Company (UCSB), directed by Delila Moseley, returns to La Soffitta after ten years and opens its tour in Bologna. It is a company made up of students who dedicate themselves to the discipline by studying theory and practice.
Today at 9pm it offers the show ‘In Different Realms… el arte perdura’, composed of a series of creations by innovative choreographers, past and present, from different fields: from the energetic movement of the Asian-American Natasha Adorlee to the intimate journey proposed by the Mexican Cihtli Ocampo, from the homage to José Limón, the revival of extracts from Missa Brevis (1958) and Running Dance taken from Psalm (1967). Dams History of Dance students also have the opportunity to participate in a theoretical-practical lesson with Alice Condodina, Limón’s student and now professor emerita at the University of California Santa Barbara.
‘Shift’ also aims to be an opportunity to transmit a legacy between different generations of artists: “On the one hand, choreographers with solid experience and on the other already trained performers, but at the beginning of their professional career – concludes Cervellati – meet to highlight the creative vitality that an intangible cultural heritage such as dance can give rise to”.
The protagonists of the Thursday and Friday evenings will be the Italian companies Tandem from Bologna, with choreography by Adriana Borriello, Sharon Fridman, Elisa Pagani (Tandem Triple Bill), Corporea-mente from Naples, on stage with a choreography by Vincenzo Capasso, ‘Get the floor’ with the artistic direction of Lorenzo Di Rocco and Jennifer Rosati, and two companies from Albania and Poland, the Company of the University of Tirana and Zawirowania Dance Theater of Warsaw. The events have free entry with seat reservation on damslab.unibo.it.
