monday 21 + tuesday 22 > friday 25 + saturday 26 june
mk
Uno stato eternamente nascente
In this double proposal (in the shape of an hourglass: two globes and a central bottleneck crowded with possibilities) we refer to a chaotic mixing, not conditioned by language or body matter, but by the intentions of the bodies: it is as if, as the choreographic research progresses, the boundaries between things and therefore the boundaries between bodies are no longer established by their essence but by environmental intentions. A body is something that maintains its structure only for a while and always in relation to an event and then moves on to something else. Displace.
It is impossible to consider these pieces as having a beginning and an end. We are rather totally dedicated to proximity simulations, without outcomes.
monday 21 + tuesday 22 june
<Abbandono>
In the uncertainty of position that each landscape (each ‘open’) offers to the performer – what else to do but encourage own retreat? – we assemble, we keep close to the irregular rhythm of the exchange between the physiological and the physical, at a distance from everything else, a necessary separation for the melting of the figures on the horizon.
And perhaps imagine the birth of an Institute of high choreographic studies (pompously, but in the midst of the brush), which does nothing more than creating the conditions for bodies to be immersed in the study of their own intentionality, an exclusive study for the creation of environments.
Now, naturalness is nothing but the preamble or the gateway to intimacy. In any case it is the good tactic – a tactic without a tactic, which undoes all tactic – that leads to it. Or rather, it leads you without leading, since intimacy is devoid of purpose or, rather, it can only take place through the abandonment of any purpose. (FJ)
friday 25 + saturday 26 june
<Simulazione di prossimità>
A ‘lawn’ assembly, designed to build an understanding between bodies, starting from the use of the word without object: chattering as a means of a physiological and momentary alliance on the grass.
Sitting. Sitting in the middle of a chessboard (pic-nic) of performers echoing a pièce, while listening to it on the headset. The piece is composed of the combination of slots of pre-recorded conversations captured on the road, excerpts of concepts faithfully transcribed and reorganized. The choice of who says what is taken on the spot, it is environmental. The only other audio comes only from Iphones. A suburban Kecac with no community rhythm, as dramatic and private as the disappearance of your playlist. To discard things continuously or in general, to produce waste. To stand in your own waste.
The word that does not say anything important, but entertains intimacy, does not really ‘make sense’, but neither is it senseless: it always says or -rather- does the same thing; it is in its own way ‘performative’ because it conveys and revives the alliance that has been initiated. Calling it ‘chatter’, Rousseau, of the word of intimacy, underlined two things at once: on the one hand, it only says futility, it does not deal with anything specific; but, on the other hand, even if this futility is not significant, it is no less expressive. It expresses a vitality (as is the chattering of children), an intimacy that claims its rights and wants to make its needs heard. What matters is, in fact, making the quality of an exchange pass from one to the other, between the two and unfolding the in-between, without necessarily having an object. The word of intimacy has its legitimacy, not because it transmits a message, but because it ensures (reassures) the ‘afterward’; it doesn’t communicate information, but understanding. … Since the word is not dictated by any need or any intention, it has no reason to stop either. The characteristic of the ‘chatter’ is the flow: it flows like a spring that irrigates the intimate space. Since it does not try to say this or that precisely, and has not even said more afterward than before (it is not ‘speech’), this word can only continue to say, or rather, to ‘entertain’. (FJ)
mk is a formation, based in Rome, focused on choreography and performance research. The group has developed over the years an inquiry into the ambiguity of bodily states and their alterations, through different formats and collaborations. Interested in building prototypes of temporary habitats, in 2016 mk opens a season centered on immersive and environmental projects, with interlocking and overlapping collaborations, also declined in special formats such as Piattaforma della danza balinese, and starts exploring choreographic systems based on perpetual motion and pure movement built for a large number of interchangeable interpreters. From 2020, with Pezzi Anatomici, begins a new cycle of investigation open to the audience in all its phases, built around the research work in the rehearsal room and the cohabitation with other realities. From 2020 mk is invited in residence at Teatro India in Rome in the Oceano Indiano project, a context that also produced the broadcasts of Radio India. mk performances have been presented in festivals and museums, galleries and foundations, and the company is now considered as one of the most lively research ensemble of the Italian scene, touring in Europe, Indonesia, USA, Japan, Peru. mk has an intense activity of conferences, workshops and experimental proposals and a constant dialogue with important Italian schools and universities interested in choreographic experimentation.
Michele Di Stefano deals with choreography and performance with the mk group, which he founded in 1999 as an irregular body research project. Central figure of Italian dance, he is an explorer of choreographic systems and dynamic fields that constantly redefine the relationship between individual project and the general system of movement. He is curator of BUFFALO at PalaExpo/MACRO for Teatro di Roma, of four editions of Tropici at Angelo Mai in Rome, and co-curator of the Giacimenta section for Matera 2019. In 2014 he was awarded the Silver Lion at 9 International Contemporary Dance Festival of the Venice Biennale.
Biagio Caravano, dancer, performer and musician, has investigated different aspects of body research in relation to sound. Trained as a musician, since 1990 he devoted himself to the study of trumpet and electronic music, creating music and sound environments for theatre and dance. He is co-founder of mk, one of the most interesting research groups of the Italian choreographic scene, which toured in distinctive international festivals for new dance and theatre in Italy and abroad. He also collaborates in the creation of workshops, ateliers and choreographic laboratories and holds courses at the Paolo Grassi School in Milan.
Loredana Tarnovschi, born in Balti in Moldavia, studied Theater-Dance at the Paolo Grassi Civic School in Milan. Since 2016 she has been collaborating as a dancer, researcher and performer with Michele Di Stefano (mk), Alessandro Carboni and Ariella Vidach (Aiep). In 2019, together with Sofia Casprini and Andrea Giomi, she created H-UR, a project dedicated to choreographic research based on the use of new technologies in relation to biomorphism and visual art. She is also specialized in the use of voice and drums as healing tools, and works in the field of aid therapy with techniques such as RTT and Somatic Experiencing.
Andrea Dionisi is a dancer grown up in the mountains of central Italy. With mk since 2014, he has dedicated himself to physical cosmologies and empty spaces. With his sharp character, slightly rounded by meditations and age, he moves strictly by motorbike, including during winter. He practices balance on nylon or polyester webbings. Lately he received clear signals from mother earth.
Francesca Linnea Ugolini, born in Turin, studied ballet for a long time and practiced basketball. She graduated in contemporary dance in Madrid and graduated from the DAMS University in Turin. She dances in the mk group, plays the piano and volunteers.
Sebastiano Geronimo works stably as a dancer with the mk group. After graduating from the Paolo Grassi Theater School in Milan in 2016, he periodically collaborates in operatic productions and with other artists of the dance and theater scene as an actor. He plays guitar and piano. He defines himself a skilled handyman.
defines himself a skilled handyman.
<Abbandono> concept Michele di Stefano
with Andrea Dionisi, Biagio Caravano, Francesca Ugolini, Loredana Tarnovschi, Michele Di Stefano, Sebastiano Geronimo
production KLm, Xing/Live Arts Week
<Simulazione di Prossimità> concept Michele Di Stefano
audio piece Massimo Conti, Michele Di Stefano
with Massimo Conti, Michele Di Stefano, Giuseppe Vincent Giampino, Renato Grieco, Valentina Lucchetti, Sara Manente, Gina Monaco, Roberta Mosca, Cristina Kristal Rizzo, Benedetta Favilli, Alba Nannini e Davide
production KLm, Xing/Live Arts Week