≈ 50 minutes · No intermission
Last updated: October 19, 2022
NAC Dance first experienced the remarkable Silvia Gribaudi in 2014 at the New Italian Dance Platform in Pisa, when she performed What Age Are You Acting? From the first moment she entered the stage, we knew we wanted to bring her work to NAC audiences. We then had the privilege of seeing Graces in 2019, a brilliant, satirical quartet that has, not surprisingly, enjoyed extensive touring and incredibly warm responses from audiences wherever it’s performed. Gribaudi’s artistic research focuses on the social impact of the body, and she centres her choreographic language both on comedy and on the relationship between audiences and performers. We’re thrilled to be presenting her company’s highly anticipated appearance at the NAC.
Enjoy!
Cathy Levy and Tina Legari, NAC Dance
Program
50 minutes – No intermission
Quote
“In a relentless succession of dances, tableaux vivants and comic scenes, the quartet seeks (and obtains) at all times the complicity of the spectator, involving him in a eulogy of imperfection and individuality. [...] Among intended afterthought, self-mocking celebrations, lyrical interludes and unsettling suspensions, the clear awareness that “beautiful is the place where the gaze rests” rises.“
–Emanuela Zanon in Juliet Art Magazine
Synopsis
Graces is a project inspired by The Three Graces, the sculpture created by Antonio Canova between 1812 and 1817. Drawn from mythology, the work was inspired by Zeus’ three daughters – Euphrosyne, Aglaea and Thalia – who radiated splendour, joy and prosperity.
When three male performers (Siro Guglielmi, Matteo Marchesi, Giacomo Citton) take the stage and join the choreographer and performer, Silvia Gribaudi, time is suddenly suspended between the human and the abstract: a place where male and female meet, without roles, and dance to the rhythm of nature itself. Sometimes direct, sometimes cruel, her art always remains empathetic and playful and blurs the boundaries between dance, theatre and the performing arts.
Clad only in underwear, sketching arabesques and playful movements to music that is sometimes classical (Vivaldi, Strauss), sometimes electronic or experimental, they explore together the possible representations of “grace”.
Silvia Gribaudi likes to define herself as “the author of the body” explaining that her poetry elevates imperfections to a point where a new form of art is created. Over the past ten years, she has been questioning gender stereotypes, female and male identities and the concept of virtuosity in dance and daily life, expanding beyond clichés and appearances.
Warm and irreverent, Graces makes you laugh and think. This generously humorous pop piece is based on the uninhibited enjoyment of shared movement. In short: vibrant and delightful!
Funder Acknowledgement
Project realized with the contribution of: ResiDance XL –luoghi e progetti di residenza per creazioni coreografiche, action of the network Anticorpi XL -Network Giovane Danza D’autore, coordinated by L’arboreto -Teatro Dimora di Mondaino e IntercettAzioni -Centro di Residenza Artistica della Lombardia -progetto di Circuito CLAPS e Industria Scenica, Milano Musica, Teatro delle Moire, Zona K
Artistic residencies: Klap -Maison Pour la danse Marseille, Centro per la Scena Contemporanea/Operaestate Festival del Comune di Bassano del Grappa, Orlando Bergamo, Lavanderia a Vapore Centro di Residenza per la danza regione Piemonte, L’arboreto -Teatro Dimora | La Corte Ospitale: Centro di Residenza Emilia-Romagna, ARTEFICI -Artisti Associati di Gorizia, Dansstationen, Danscentrum Syd, Skånesdansteater Malmö Sweden and with the support of Centro di Residenza Armunia/CapoTrave Kilowatt.
CollaborAction#42018/2019–in collaboration with festivals ad theatrical seasons rganized by Rete Anticorpi, Ater Circuito Regionale Multidisciplinare, Associazione Mosaico Danza/Interplay, Piemonte Dal Vivo, Amat, Arteven, Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Vicenza, Associazione Artedanzae20, Teatro Pubblico Pugliese, C.L.A.P.Spettacolodalvivo, Associazione Armunia, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo Onlus.
Artists
Since 2004 she has focused her research on the social impact of bodies, having set at the centre of her choreographic language the comic element and the relationship between audience and performers.
Award-winner of the Premio Giovane Danza D’Autore with her piece A CORPO LIBERO (2009), finalist at the Premio UBU for best dance show and finalist at the Premio Rete Critica award with R.OSA (2017), winner of the Premio CollaborAction#4 2018-2019, finalist at the Premio Rete Critica 2019, winner of the Premio DANZA&DANZA 2019 for best Italian production with the piece GRACES and Premio Histryo Corpo a Corpo 2021.
She has taken part in several artistic research projects, including:
CHOREOROAM (2011), TRIPTYCH (2013), ACT YOUR AGE (2014) – an EU project about active ageing through the art of dance, which inspired the performance WHAT AGE ARE YOU ACTING?, as well as the community project OVER 60; PERFORMING GENDER (2015); CORPO LINKS CLUSTER (2019/2020), where the connection of dance, the mountains, and the mountain community gave life to the site specific project TREKKING COREOGRAFICO (choreographic trekking) and to the piece MONJOUR (2021), produced by Torinodanza Festival in collaboration with Teatro Stabile del Veneto and Brussels’s Les Halles de Schaerbeek.
In 2021 she has been a guest choreographer at “Danser Encore, 30 solos pour 30 danseurs”, a project for the Opéra de Lyon and in June 2023 her new production will be premiered: WHERE DOES A BALLET END? a coproduction by MM Contemporary Dance Company (IT), La Biennale de Lyon (FR), Théâtre de la Ville (FR), Rum för Dans (SE), Torinodanza Festival (IT), International Dance Festival TANEC PRAHA (CZ), Zodiak – Side Step Festival (FIN) and the international network Big Pulse Dance Alliance.
Performers
- Silvia Gribaudi
- Siro Guglielmi
- Matteo Marchesi
- Giacomo Citton
Credits
- Choreography
Silvia Gribaudi - Dramaturgy
Silvia Gribaudi and Matteo Maffesanti - Light Design
Antonio Rinaldi - Technical Director
Leonardo Benetollo - Costumes
Elena Rossi - Production
Zebra - Co-production
Santarcangelo dei Teatri - Supported by
MIC
NAC Dance Team
- Executive Producer
Cathy Levy - Associate Producer
Tina Legari - Special Projects Coordinator and Assistant to the Executive Producer
Mireille Nicholas - Company Manager
Sophie Anka - Education Associate and Teaching Artist
Siôned Watkins - Technical Director
Brian Britton - Communications Strategist
Julie Gunville - Marketing Strategist
Marie-Chantale Labbé-Jacques
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees