Ivgi&Greben (Netherlands)

Object (14+)

Object is a solo dance performance. A female dancer expresses solitude, desire, and manipulation, looking for the boundaries between emotional and physical aspects of a human body being watched. In these intense 20 minutes of dialogue with the audience the dance shifts between compassion and confrontation.

Choreography: Ivgi Greben

Dancer: Manon Adrianow

Costume: Ivgi Greben

Light: Ivgi Greben

Music: Serge Leonardi, Michel Korb, Ben Frost

Biographies

Already during their individual dance careers, respectively at the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Israel and the Dutch National Ballet in The Netherlands, Uri Ivgi and Johan Greben successfully started their individual career as a choreographer. Both received important awards for their early works, and created various choreographies for companies, festivals in Europe. Since they teamed up as a choreographers-duo in 2003 they created over 35 dance productions both nationally and internationally. Everywhere they worked their quality was recognized and awarded more than once, for example in Moscow, they received the Golden Mask Award for Best Choreographer in Ballet/Contemporary Dance. After roaming the globe for so long, they were invited to start their own dance company in 2021 in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands where they work with 8 dancers from different nationalities.

Spellbound Contemporary Ballet (Italy)

Formami

“Formami” is a virtual black box found after an accident: in this case not actually an accident, it’s a bewilderment, a great confusion. It’s that moment where you lose yourself, but where even asking for directions, you have the feeling that nobody really knows what to recommend us ... often in life you look for someone to guide us in a direction, to give us directions ... But then you end up talking to yourself, as if you were talking to our creator and asked “form me!”. If we really had a black box in all our life accidents, if we could remember, and understand why it happened... we would start to form other bodies, another mind, another sensitivity. “Formami” is an eternal movement.

Choreography: Mauro Astolfi

Dancers: Maria Cossu, Mario Laterza, Mateo Mirdita

Lighting design: Marco Policastro Spellbound Contemporary Ballet

Artistic Director: Mauro Astolfi- General Manager Valentina Marini

Music: Various Artists

A Spellbound production with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture.

Supported by the Italian Embassy - Italian Cultural Institute (Valletta) (Istituto Italiano di Cultura La Valletta)

Biographies

Spellbound Contemporary Ballet

Spellbound Contemporary Ballet was founded in 1994 by Artistic Director Mauro Astolfi and later joined by Valentina Marini. Together with Astolfi’s unique artistic language and Marini’s expert drive of internationalisation, the company is thriving as a maverick cornerstone of the global art community. With an unmistakable style, Spellbound is defined by a distinctly original language underpinned by an ensemble of technically and artistically excellent dancers. Spellbound Contemporary Ballet is the leading pillar of Italian Contemporary dance and has quickly become an international force touring intensively in Europe, Asia, and America. Spellbound Contemporary Ballet forges the truss between audience, pre-professional, and artist with a spine of 25 years of seminars, workshops, and a creative legacy that has united thousands of dancers and spectators.  Its multigenerational presence has grown a harmonious team of professionals capable of hosting large-scale productions and project management with a strong vocation for internationalisation. 

Mauro Astolfi

Mauro Astolfi is without a doubt one of the most important contemporary choreographers on the European scene. Working as a choreographer and teacher, he has created an original and constantly evolving style and symbolic language from his elaboration of various forms of expressive contemporary movement. After a long stay in America, he established the Spellbound Contemporary Ballet in 1994, a company that he runs together with Valentina Marini. Astolfi is also working intensively as a freelancer creating pieces for companies like Balletto di Roma, Thetreschool Amsterdam, Szegedi Kortárs Bartlett, Leipzig Ballet, Gärtnerplatztheater, Vancouver Arts Umbrella DanceCompany,  ProarteDanza, Compania Colombiana de Ballet, Theater Magdeburg, Ballet Trier, Ballet Augsburg, Giessen Stadttheater, Konzert und Theater St.Gallen, Bern Ballett. As well as being a choreographer, Mauro Astolfi frequently appears as a guest teacher at major dance centres. Since October 2009, he has also been the Artistic Director of the D.A.F  centre (Dance and Arts Faculty) in Rome. PERFORMANCE BLURB: “Formami” is a virtual black box found after an accident: in this case not actually an accident, it’s a bewilderment, a great confusion. It’s that moment where you lose yourself, but when even asking for directions, you have the feeling that nobody really knows what to recommend us ... often in life you look for someone to guide us in a direction, to give us directions …

Supported by the Italian Embassy - Italian Cultural Institute (Valletta) (Istituto Italiano di Cultura La Valletta

Frantics dance Company (Germany)

Ordinary People

I try to pay attention, It comes from Inside. I have to concentrate. / want to create, to destroy, to defend me, to react, the Inner voices are in the back of my head and haunt my existence.

They drag me Into a pit of chaos. Yeah, well, I give up, I just want to float and let things manifest. Oh well, I'm not the only one in the room. Two separate stories imply the need for our attention, recreating the chaos that this condition presupposes for the people who experience it. Constantly using our body language and music to create Images that transform over time and have an impact on the scene.

Choreographer: Frantics Dance Company

Dancers: Diego La Rosa, Juan Tirado, Marco Di Nardo and Carlos Aller

Music: Mixed Artists

Supported by The Goethe Institute

Biographies

Frantics, the Berlin-based dance-theatre company founded in 2013, has gained international acclaim for its unique approach to creative expression. The four co-artistic directors, Carlos Aller, Marco di Nardo, Diego de la Rosa, and Juan Tirado, combine different dance and movement disciplines, from urban to contemporary, and integrate textual and physical theatre with literature to philosophical essays.

DIEGO DE LA ROSA

Diego de la Rosa is a Boy who discovered the dance style in 2004. He has travelled all over Europe, competing and participating in events. In addition to his artistic endeavours, Diego has worked on various projects since 2014, including performances with Theater Strahl, Hungry Sharks, Theater Bonn, Theater Bremen, and Theater Kassel. He has collaborated with renowned choreographers such as Samir Akika, Helder Seabra, Adrienn H6d Hodworks, Laura Scozzi, JDot Tight Eyez, Nadine Gerspa-Cher, Lorea Renour, and Johannes Wieland. Diego has gained extensive experience teaching and conducting professional dance training and has developed his dance technique named "Exploring Possibilities," which he teaches in workshops across Europe, Asia, and Africa.

JUAN TIRADO

Originally from Jan, Spain, this dancer's training is strongly influenced by breakdance, martial arts, and computer science. He was a guest dancer for Johannes Wieland at Staatstheater Kassel from 2014 to 2019 and worked with Maxine Doyle, Sita Ostheimer, and Helder Seabra during this time. In 2016, he co-created a piece with Diego de la Rosa and Young-Won Song that won the Residenzpreis at the 31st Hanover Choreographic Festival.  In 2018, he joined the Staatsoper Berlin as a guest dancer and participated in the P9 project, which involved creating an inclusive piece with children with special needs in 2019. He has also choreographed "The Design" for DAF (Faculty of Dance Arts) postgraduate students in Rome. He is a guest lecturer at various institutions, including the Tainan University of Technology, National Taiwan University of the Arts, Dock 11, TanzRaumBerlin, B12 (Berlin), Hellerau, Studio Pro Arte, Marameo Berlin, Staatstheater Pforzheim, and Staatstheater Kassel.

MARCO DI NARDO

Marco Di Nardo was born in Naples (IT), where he started his career as a dancer in 2003, dancing in the b-boying scene of Naples, winning many national and international awards with DBR Crew. He has worked with: Panorama Dance Theater (CH), Southpaw Dance Co (UK), and Theater Strahl Berlin (DE). Currently, as a dancer and choreographer assistant at WangRamirez and as a choreographic assistant at Staatstheater Braunschweig. He has directed and choreographed at TANZWERK101- HF ZUB Zurich, Fontys School of Fine and Performing ArtsArts, Tilburg, Oliva Contemporary Dance Project, Verona, and has worked as a guest teacher at Opera Bastille Paris, CCN BalletPreljocaj, Staats-theatre Kassel, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Krakowskie Centrum Choreograficzne, A_Space Dance Studio Taipei, Opera de Ballet De Toulouse, School of Performing Arts Malta, DAF Faculty of Dance Arts Roma, Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

CARLOS ALLER

Carlos Aller originally from Spain discovered his passion for dance through breakdancing in his hometown in 2005. He participated in competitions throughout Spain before moving to Berlin in 2012 and attending Tanzfabrik Berlin. Carlos has created several solo performances, including "TI.M.O.R". (2015), "VENENA" (2019), and "SECRETO" (2020), which are currently touring Europe. He has worked with renowned choreographers, such as Fernando Melo, Lorca Renoux, Juan Tirado, Ira Demina, Karolin Stächele, Mikolaj Mikolajczyk, Julia Maria Koch, Pies Merkx, and Efrat Stempler. Carlos has also collaborated with theatre companies, including Theater Strahl (Berlin), Dagada Dance Company (Freiburg), La Monnaie De Munt - Brussels, and Opera Trista und Isolde De Dancers (The Netherlands).

Lali Ayguadé Company (Spain)

Underneath

We all need a guide. Something to follow, to look up to. Something (or someone) who clears the path and gives us a direction. May it be right, or wrong. In the lack of leadership, we feel lost, falling at every single step we make. But in that very moment, in the fall, is where things start to clear up and something is found. Something that just might be very simple, but something that we crave. UNDERNEATH brings us back to the simplicity of the abstract where movement is our strength.Choreographer: Lali AyguadéMusic: Miguel Marín

Supported by Spanish Embassy

Biography

Lali Ayguadé Company

Lali Ayguadé Company was founded in 2013 in Barcelona. Her director, Lali Ayguadé, has a remarkable international journey through her collaborations and works in the most important and prestigious dance companies in the world. With significant growth both on national and international level since its creation, the company has developed a consequent repertoire of works of different formats: its own creations for theatre (Kokoro in 2015, iU an Mi in 2017, Hidden in 2020), its own creations for street and unconventional spaces (Incognito, De camino al Otro, Underneath), as well as collaborations with artists such as Guilhem Chatir (Here, 2018), Joana Gomila (Sa Mateixa, 2018) and Akira Yoshida (2020 y 2023).

Artistic director:Lali Ayguadé

Choreographer: Lali Ayguadé

Dancers: Lali Ayguadé & Lisard Tranis

Composer and musician: Miguel Marín

Lali Ayguadé

Born in 1980, Lali Ayguadé studied at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona and P.A.R.T.S. directed by Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker. She began working in Denmark with the Publik Eye company, with playwright Carmen Mehnert before joining the Akram Khan Company and Hofesh Shechter in London. Her tireless hunger for collaboration has led her to work alongside Julian Sicard in ‘De Camino al Otro’, Joana Gomila in ‘Sa Mateixa’, Guilhem Chatir in ‘Here’ in 2018, and Akira Yoshida in ‘Gizaki’ (2020) for which Lali was rewarded as best female dance in Premis Butacas 2021. In 2010, she was nominated for the best dancer at the London Critics Awards, and in 2014, best creator. In 2016 she was nominated for the best dancer at the Barcelona Critics Recomana.cat Awards.

Lisard Tranis

Lisard trained at Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. He won first prize in the Certamen Internacional de Dansa competition. Later joined Verve, (Northern School of Contemporary Dance’s Postgraduate) and received the Outstanding Postgraduate Achievement Award that year. Since graduating Lisard has worked with Lali Ayguadé Company, Guy Nader & Maria Campos, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Hagit Yakira Dance, James Wilton Dance and Cie. José Besprosvany, among others. Furthermore, Lisard has been teaching in various festivals and countries and has a deep interest in developing his own language as both a choreographer and teacher.