Biennale College Danza set to start with the selected 16 dancers and 3 choreographers

Tuesday May 14^th marks the start of the fourth edition of Biennale College Danza directed by Wayne McGregor with the 16 dancers and 3 choreographers selected among the more than 430 applications submitted. At the end of a three-month residency the selected dancers and choreographers will make their debut on the stages of the 18^th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of La Biennale di Venezia (18 July > 3 August).

The new Biennale College Danza dancers, all between the ages of 20 and 27 from 8 different countries, are: Sofia Baglietto, Daniele Bracciale, Piera Gentile, Elena Grimaldi, Francesco Polese, Simone Cristofori from Italy; Ming Chin Hsieh from Taiwan; Ekaterina Cheporova from Russia; Victoria Martino Troncoso from Chile; Rosanna Lindsey and Zac Priestley from Great Britain; Somer February from South Africa; Iker Rodriguez Sainz from Spain; Kannen Glanz, Xavier Williams and Alberto Serrano from the United States.

The selected choreographers are: the Spanish duo Enrique López Flores and Javier Ara Sauco and the Canadian choreographer of European adoption Dorotea Saykaly.

From May 14^th to August 3^rd, in the Sale d’Armi of the Arsenale, the selected artists will participate in an intensive programme divided between studies and experience on the field, taking part daily in lessons in classical and contemporary technique and in workshops dedicated to the study of the repertory, to the creative process and to improvisation with a view to develop new choreographic projects as part of the 18^th Festival.

The mentors for the young artists during their three months of residency will be renowned experts such as Giorgio Azzone, Pompea Santoro, Juan Polo Cobos, Veronique Jean and Antonia Franceschi for classical dance; Mathieu Gefferé and Jeannie Steele with musician Simone Sistarelli for the Cunningham technique; Anthony Matsena and Davide Di Pretorio (contemporary, afro, hip hop infusion); Keren Lurie Pardes (gaga technique); Marta Masiero and Emma Henry (yoga); Kiraly Saint Claire (fitness).

In addition, there will be a special guest at the College, Carolyn Carlson, the first artistic director of Biennale Danza, who will teach a three-day masterclass.

These mentors will be joined by Cristina Caprioli, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement 2024, who in addition to working on her repertory, will create a new choreography for the College, and by the artistic director Wayne McGregor himself, who will develop his new creation with his company in residence together with the young dancers of the College. Both works will be performed on the stages of the next Biennale Danza, and more specifically:

• Saturday July 20^th and Sunday July 21^st The Bench by Cristina Caprioli, a performance in the form of a happening on Via Garibaldi, a collective reflection about words and movements that will immerse the dancers in Cristina Caprioli’s rigorous artistic and intellectual practice;
• Friday August 2^nd and Saturday August 3^rd, as the final moment in the festival, the new creation by Wayne McGregor, a work with elevated technological content, large-scale and site-specific, will transform Sala Grande in the Palazzo del Cinema into an eminently theatrical space;
• Finally, two new choreographies (date to be announced), one by the pair of choreographers Enrique López Flores and Javier Ara Sauco and the other by choreographer Dorotea Saykaly, shared and developed with the College dancers and the Company Wayne McGregor.