Dance
The Board appoints Virgilio Sieni new director for the Dance section
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12 | 21 | 2012
The Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, met on 21 December 2012. For the Dance section, after acknowledging to splendid work done over the past eight years by Ismael Ivo, in particular with the Arsenale della Danza, which has become a point of reference in Europe for excellence in training, the Board of Directors has appointed Virgilio Sieni as Director for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015.
“Virgilio Sieni, explained President Baratta, has been developing a highly intense and personal research process in the field of Dance for many years, and apart from his recognized talent as a choreographer, he is esteemed for his commitment and dedication to educational activities, and for his experimental spirit enriched by his many interests in other disciplines. As the Arsenale della Danza continues within the Biennale College, he will have the opportunity to bring a significant contribution to its further development and growing standing, and become a valuable guide”.
On his part, Virgilio Sieni has stated: “I hope to share a process based on practices understood as a stimulus to creation and fruition, focusing attention on the meaning of performance as a form of the living that calls upon us to listen, opening the doors to the unknown. For me the Biennale represents the clearing that is enriched with acceptance, focusing intensely on the body as the measure and poetic nourishment of man”.
VIRGILIO SIENI (Florence, 1957)
Since the ‘80s Virgilio Sieni has been a leading figure in Italian contemporary dance: today he is a renowned choreographer and dancer at international level, “Among the very few who, through movement, can give birth to works still talking about the “human”, about its weakness and frailty” (Goffredo Fofi) and whose “works are presented as a thought in the form of dance and on dance” (Roberto Giambrone).
Sieni trained in classic and contemporary dance in Amsterdam, New York and Tokyo, but his education also includes studies in the visual arts, architecture and the martial arts. In 1983, he founded the Parco Butterfly company, which in 1992 became the Compagnia Virgilio Sieni; with it - among other numerous awards - he won three UBU prizes in 2000, 2003 and 2011, the year when he also obtained the award of “Lo Straniero” magazine. As a guest choreographer, he has created ballets for leading Italian opera and theatre companies: Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro Comunale in Florence - Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and Teatro dell'Opera in Rome.
Among his most important works are Osso, La natura delle cose, adapted from Lucretius’ De rerum natura, for which he collaborated with philosopher Giorgio Agamben for the drama; Solo Goldberg Improvisation, Tristi tropici, freely adapted from the book Tristes Tropiques by Claude Lévi-Strauss, and his latest theatre performance De anima, inspired by Aristotle. For the creation of his works Sieni has often collaborated with illustrious visual artists, musicians and composers, such as Alexander Balanescu, Ennio Morricone, Steve Lacy, Francesco Giomi/Tempo Reale, Evan Parker, Stefano Scodanibbio, Grazia Toderi, Liliana Moro, Maurizio Nannucci, Flavio Favelli.
With his company, Sieni not only creates theatre performances, but also offers a research and study program, aimed at the dissemination of contemporary choreographic language through residence, production and training projects. Virgilio Sieni has directed in Florence CANGO Cantieri Goldonetta since 2003, and the Accademia sull’arte del gesto since 2007, aimed at the transmission of artistic practice and at establishing a new relationship between training and production. It addresses professional and non-professional dancers, starting from childhood to the elderly and the visually impaired.
“Virgilio Sieni, explained President Baratta, has been developing a highly intense and personal research process in the field of Dance for many years, and apart from his recognized talent as a choreographer, he is esteemed for his commitment and dedication to educational activities, and for his experimental spirit enriched by his many interests in other disciplines. As the Arsenale della Danza continues within the Biennale College, he will have the opportunity to bring a significant contribution to its further development and growing standing, and become a valuable guide”.
On his part, Virgilio Sieni has stated: “I hope to share a process based on practices understood as a stimulus to creation and fruition, focusing attention on the meaning of performance as a form of the living that calls upon us to listen, opening the doors to the unknown. For me the Biennale represents the clearing that is enriched with acceptance, focusing intensely on the body as the measure and poetic nourishment of man”.
VIRGILIO SIENI (Florence, 1957)
Since the ‘80s Virgilio Sieni has been a leading figure in Italian contemporary dance: today he is a renowned choreographer and dancer at international level, “Among the very few who, through movement, can give birth to works still talking about the “human”, about its weakness and frailty” (Goffredo Fofi) and whose “works are presented as a thought in the form of dance and on dance” (Roberto Giambrone).
Sieni trained in classic and contemporary dance in Amsterdam, New York and Tokyo, but his education also includes studies in the visual arts, architecture and the martial arts. In 1983, he founded the Parco Butterfly company, which in 1992 became the Compagnia Virgilio Sieni; with it - among other numerous awards - he won three UBU prizes in 2000, 2003 and 2011, the year when he also obtained the award of “Lo Straniero” magazine. As a guest choreographer, he has created ballets for leading Italian opera and theatre companies: Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro Comunale in Florence - Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and Teatro dell'Opera in Rome.
Among his most important works are Osso, La natura delle cose, adapted from Lucretius’ De rerum natura, for which he collaborated with philosopher Giorgio Agamben for the drama; Solo Goldberg Improvisation, Tristi tropici, freely adapted from the book Tristes Tropiques by Claude Lévi-Strauss, and his latest theatre performance De anima, inspired by Aristotle. For the creation of his works Sieni has often collaborated with illustrious visual artists, musicians and composers, such as Alexander Balanescu, Ennio Morricone, Steve Lacy, Francesco Giomi/Tempo Reale, Evan Parker, Stefano Scodanibbio, Grazia Toderi, Liliana Moro, Maurizio Nannucci, Flavio Favelli.
With his company, Sieni not only creates theatre performances, but also offers a research and study program, aimed at the dissemination of contemporary choreographic language through residence, production and training projects. Virgilio Sieni has directed in Florence CANGO Cantieri Goldonetta since 2003, and the Accademia sull’arte del gesto since 2007, aimed at the transmission of artistic practice and at establishing a new relationship between training and production. It addresses professional and non-professional dancers, starting from childhood to the elderly and the visually impaired.
