Aterballetto at EXPO Dubai with virtual dance

Fondazione Nazionale della Danza/Aterballetto takes to Expo 2020 Dubai a project for a new form of immersive dance: from January 27 to 30, at the Italy Pavilion, presentation of Virtual Dance for Real People – an ‘experiment’ that combines dance with technology thanks to the use of VR and 360° videos.

The event is promoted by Emilia-Romagna Region and organized in co-operation with ATER Fondazione.

Virtual Dance for Real People includes three MicroDanze (MicroDances) – short dance pieces performed by one or more dancers, conceived by talented young choreographers: Kepler and Meridiana by Diego Tortelli; Shelter by Saul Daniele Ardillo.

The audience can watch them through an Oculus visor, inside the same set in which they were created and, while the dance unfolds all its visual power, the spectator can observe who is dancing and the space around, while the sounds and music envelop her/him. Just as if s/he were in a theatre, her/his gaze can dance with the dancers, in an interweaving of perceptions.

Ritual and sacrifice are the key to interpreting Shelter by Saul Daniele Ardillo. Diego Tortelli puts two asymmetrical bodies in dialogue in Meridiana and creates micro/macro-worlds with Kepler, an almost science-fiction choreography.

Virtual Dance for Real People is the virtual-reality declination of the MicroDanze – non-frontal and non-rigid choreographies, but permeable to the spatial context and able to dialogue with different disciplinary universes to promote intimacy between dancer and spectator. Co-produced with Fondazione Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia, the MicroDanze are at the heart of a large and articulated public art project in partnership with Les Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels and Ballet Greek National Opera in Athens, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union: 'An Ideal City'.

Aterballetto relied on two specialized studios – RE:lab in Reggio Emilia and Riot Studio (Lapej) in Naples – to film the MicroDanze in 360° view and create Virtual Dance for Real People – a production specially designed to be enjoyed with VR technology.

The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture / Special projects 2021. Moreover, as 'Special Project', MicroDanze was awarded the Danza&Danza 2021 Award for having distinguished itself for original planning, multimedia, internationality.

• more
• trailers:
  Virtual Dance for Real People
  Shelter by Saul Daniele Ardillo
  Kepler by Diego Tortelli
  Meridiana by Diego Tortelli
  

Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto

Italy Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai