KYOTO EXPERIMENT 2024 Shows【Dance】Alessandro Sciarroni Save the Last Dance for Me

Shows

This program invites radical artists from Japan and overseas, staging works of performing arts that we think should be experienced right now. Closely observing the shifts and trends in the performing arts scene in Kyoto and the Kansai region, the program introduces experimental works that transcend the genre boundaries of dance, theater, music, and fine art.

【Dance】Alessandro Sciarroni
Save the Last Dance for Me

Two men spinning and whirling, their breath rising,
faster and faster, a never-ending dance

Alessandro Sciarroni, winner of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance at the Venice Biennale, encountered the polka chinata (crouched polka) when it was on the verge of disappearing altogether.

A dance performed only by men, the polka chinata emerged in Bologna in the early 1900s, when unmarried men and women were not permitted to dance together in public. The acrobatic dance, in which men compete to see who can spin the fastest to attract the attention of women, gradually fell out of fashion as times changed and men and women dancing became more acceptable as well as due to the difficulty of the dance itself. When Sciarroni began his research, prompted by a video posted online, there were only a few dancers left. Enthralled by this dance on the brink of extinction, Sciarroni launched a performance and workshop project to revive the polka chinata.

Two dancers bend at the knees, lower their hips, and rotate while staring intently at one another. Feeling the thrill of knowing that they will surely collapse if the grip on each other’s arm loosens even a little, their smiles reveal the joy of trusting your partner, relinquishing the weight of your body to them, and dancing.

Dates：
10.5 (Sat) 16:00
10.6 (Sun) 16:00 ★♡

★ Post-show talk
♡ Childcare Service (reservation required 7 days before each performance)

Duration: 30 min
⚠️ Audiences may not enter after the performance has started.

Venue: Auditorium, KYOTO ART CENTER
Advance tickets:
Adult ¥2,000
Youth (25 and under), Students ¥1,500
High School Students & Younger ¥1,000
Pair ¥3,500 (Advance tickets only)

Day tickets are the same price as advance tickets.
Seating: Unreserved

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☞ Workshop
Date: 10.6 (Sun) 13:00-15:00
Venue: Auditorium, KYOTO ART CENTER
Facilitators: Gianmaria Borzillo, Giovanfrancesco Giannini
Fee: ¥1,000
Capacity: 16 (first come, first served)

Reserve through the form. [Registration is now closed]

Alessandro Sciarroni

Rome (Italy)

Since 2007, Sciarroni has created works that combine performing arts and contemporary art. Having studied visual arts as well as boasting extensive on-stage experience, Sciarroni creates works that combine a conceptual approach with specific techniques and practices derived from a range of disciplines including theater and dance as well as sports and circus arts. His works are often grounded in the repetition of practices that test the dancer’s physical endurance in an attempt to reveal the obsessions, fears, and the fragility of the act of performing, as well as exploring time within performance and examining the empathetic relationship between spectator and performer. He has been invited to countless international festivals and presented his works around the world. He was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in the Dance at the 2019 Venice Biennale Danza. He is associate artist at CENTQUATRE-Paris and Triennale Milano Teatro 2022-2024.

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Invention: Alessandro Sciarroni
With Gianmaria Borzillo and Giovanfrancesco Giannini
Artistic Collaboration: Giancarlo Stagni
Music: Aurora Bauzà and Pere Jou (Telemenn Rec.)
Styling: Ettore Lombardi
Technical Direction: Valeria Foti
Tour Technician: Cosimo Maggini
Curator, Promotion, and Consulting: Lisa Gilardino
Administration and Executive Production: Chiara Fava
Communication: Pierpaolo Ferlaino

Production: corpoceleste_C.C.00#, MARCHETEATRO
Co-production: Santarcangelo Festival, B.Motion, Festival Danza Urbana
Supported by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan | Japan Arts Council
Under the auspices of Embassy of France in Japan / Institut français du Japon
Special partnership with Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka
Co-presented by Kyoto Experiment and Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels

[Save the Last Dance for Me], co-presented by Kyoto Experiment and Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels in the frame of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival in Kyoto and Saitama (10/4-11/16).

Pre-festival Event:
Inheriting Dance: Alessandro Sciarroni x Katanogahara Katano-bushi / Odori Preservation Society