La cittadinanza del corpo 2017

But first of all, life searchs its body
Maria Zambrano

Comes to life the second edition of the La Cittadinanza del Corpo, project conceived for the city of Mantua by the dancer and coreographer Virgilio Sieni.

The journey on body and dance languages, that involves the citizens in coreographic actions in the city’s places of art, this year was conceived as a Manifesto for a landscape of the gesture: as a research that comes from the belief that dialogues between body and space represent an essencial path to recognize a new city, founded on the intergenerational relations, on the welcoming and listening to others.

There are two public exhibitions of the work conduced by the coreographer, alongside with more than eighty participants that have been involved in the rehersals since April: the performance Azioni Coreografiche, being held at Palazzo Te on Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th of July at 9pm, and the Cammino d’estate, which will be held on Wednesday 19th of July at 8pm at the Pescherie di Giulio Romano.

“Centro Palazzo Te – says the President Stefano Baia Curioni – is a research, mediation, production and promotion istitute that works in behalf of culture. Understand this mission today means putting together art and training. The work done by Virgilio Sieni can for sure be put amongst the fundamental components of such ideal. The presence of this great master has offered to dozens of citizens the privilege of imerging in a experience of movement, of rythm, of figuration, of growing awareness about the body – both ours and others – and its potentialities, ready to offer a new sense of reality, wider and more harmonious”.

The final performances called Azioni coreografihe, held at Palazzo Te on July 17th and 18th, will be interpreted by some dancers from Compagnia Virgilio Sieni alongside Mantuan citizens and the inhabitants of the region; there are 16 scenes in the rooms and gardens of Palazzo Te, accompained with original songs by Michele Rabbia, performed live by the musician. Each action is based on the inclusion of the other through the relation with the place and the environment: the participants form small communities of the gesture, which bring to life coreographies about art and about living and protecting each other equally.

The public space then gets reinvented as a gym, containing exercises about the human beings, about cohabitation and about poetry, which leads to the body being rediscovered through searching of it, condivision of space and acceptance of each other.

Tickets are available for pre-sale on www.vivaticket.it , and at the ticket office of Palazzo Te on the day of the performances.

“The rooms of Palazzo Te – tells Virgilio Sieni – goes back to being places of welcoming of existences, disposed to ground but also caught in cerimonial movements, in behaviors of contemplation and of waiting as so many liturgical songs, ceremonies calling to the hidden man, to the animal presence, the fauna as a mediator between the world of nature and the need for man to transfigure itself.”

The public is also an integrant part of the coreographic project: walking freely, the visitor can actually travel trough the Renaissance Villa between the Logge and the Cortile d’Onore, inside the rooms and at the Esedra Garden.

The closure of this travel experience is with Cammino d’Estate, open to the public, that will be held at the core of the city of Mantua on July 19th, at the Pescherie di Giulio Romano. It will consist of a light and shared walk for about thirty minutes, animated by coreographic actions performed by professional and amateurs dancers, accompaigned by the choir G. Savani, directed by Maestro Giampaolo Violi. The invitation to join is open to every citizen, tourist, and walking by person without age limitation. Everyone will be able to join this movement, following, step by step, the growing of a group that is imagined as an exemplar representation of the community and it’s natural relations. The event is conceived as a poetic and spiritual occasion, civic and physical, of sharing and collective participation.

The Cittadinanza del Corpo 2017 is promoted by Comune di Mantova, organized by Centro Internazionale d’Arte e di Cultura di Palazzo Te and Museo Civico di Palazzo Te, in collaboration with Compagnia Virgilio Sieni, Fondazione Mantova Capitale Europea dello Spettacolo and Regione Lombardia, together with Mantova Capitale di Cultura – Cult City. A special mention and thanks to Ratti S.p.A for providing with textile used in the performances.