Oriente Occidente Dance Festival

Mediterranean means ‘in between lands‘. Over the years, geostrategic balances have transformed the Mediterranean into a space that is much wider than its natural borders.  In an attempt to recount it, Oriente Occidente tries to give the ‘mare nostrum’ a new name, Mediterranei: a plural name, which restores the fragmentary nature of a place of diversity, a point of encounter and sometimes also of clash.

The themes that characterise this year’s Festival are belonging, identity, community and relationships, addressed through the language of dance, which is part of the identity of Oriente Occidente and which by its very nature crosses borders and language barriers. There will be performances that embrace different cultural and geographical origins, introducing contaminations of styles, artistic disciplines and innovative experimentation.
The three narrative strands are the following: telling myths, listening to voices, tracing new routes.

TELLING MYTHS | Dance

• September 3rd |Teatro Zandonai
  Zéphyr
  by Mourad Merzouki
  Zéphyr by Mourad Merzouki, in which ten performers interpret Ulysses’ hand-to-hand combat with the wind, taking their cue from the myth par excellence.
• September 7th | Teatro Zandonai
  Encantado
  by Lia Rodrigues
  For the first time in Italy and co-produced by Oriente Occidente, in Rovereto there will be Encantado, by Lia Rodrigues, a radical and militant Brazilian choreographer who, in this piece created during the pandemic crisis, asks how to “enchant fears” in order to get close to one another again.
• September 8th | Auditorium Melotti
  Ariadna
  by Rafaela Carrasco
  The well-known female myth of Ariadne is entrusted to the flamenco of Rafaela Carrasco, a “bailaora” and choreographer considered an institution of this genre that has been able to bring it up to date without denying its roots: in her Ariadna, flamenco is put at the service of a timeless story.
• Setptember 10th | Teatro Zandonai
  Pan
  by T.H.E Dance Company, Nana Kofi Osei, Diana Anselmo
  The story of Pangu, a Chinese mythological being whose giant body breaks to transform itself into all the elements of nature.  An opportunity to confront the concept of transculturation, i.e. the process of continuous convergence of cultures. Pan proposes a plural vision of the world and is a work on the recognition of differences from every point of view.

LISTENING TO VOICES| Music

• September 3rd | Giardino Bridi de Probizer
  A Touma
  by Ballaké Sissoko
  A Touma, by Ballaké Sissoko, who at the dawn of his 50s and with his kora – a typical West African lute harp – celebrates life, nature and relationships.
• September 3rd – October 4th | Campana dei Caduti
  Le guerre degli altri
  by Roberto Travan
  Exhibition by photojournalist Roberto Travan, part of the programme dedicated to the Armenia Festival; in dialogue with the author Alice Pistolesi. The exhibition will be open until 4 October.
• September 4th | Auditorium Melotti
  Canti tradizionali miroloi e danza
  by Koen Augustjnen, Rosalba Torres Guerrero, Cie Siamese
  The miroloi are traditional Greek songs, which are sung at farewells to loved ones. They accompany the dance of Cie Siamese, led by Koen Augustjnen and Rosalba Torres Guerrero, who, after gathering musicians from all over Europe and making their debut at the Avignon Festival, arrive at Oriente Occidente.
• September 5th | Teatro Zandonai
  Musica, poesia e danza tra Persia ed Egitto
  by Fouad Boussouf
  Fouad Boussouf stages an imaginary encounter between the contemporary Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum and the 11th-century Persian poet Omar Khayyam, to whom the choreographer pays an emotional tribute thanks to six dancers on stage accompanied by live music.
• September 5th | Sala conferenze del Mart
  Inaspettate connessioni
  by Alessandro Garofalo
  A conference show where live music and the voice of the well-known innovator will connect different cultures such as the US and Japanese ones.
• September 9th | Campana dei Caduti
  Viaggio sonoro in Armenia
  by Gevorg Dabaghyan
  Gevorg Dabaghyan, considered the world’s leading expert on the duduk, a typical instrument and since 2008 a Unesco heritage site, accompanied by two other musicians, will invite the audience on a sound journey that mixes folk and sacred music through the Armenian tradition.
• September 9th | Colle di Miravalle
  Meeting dedicated to Nagorno Karabakh
  with Emanuele Giordana, Tsovinar Hambardzumyan
  A meeting dedicated to Nagorno Karabakh with Emanuele Giordana, editorial director of L’Atlante delle guerre e dei conflitti del mondo, following the important institutional appointment during which Armenia will officially adhere to the Maria Dolens peace memorandum in the presence of Ambassador Tsovinar Hambardzumyan, hoisting its flag on the Miravalle Pass.
• September 10th | Giardino delle Sculture, Mart
  Notte della Taranta di Rovereto
  by Grecanico Salentino
  A real Notte della Taranta in miniature, with a concert by the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, which will be the Festival’s closing party.

TRACING NEW ROUTES | Installations, video performances, street shows

• September 3rd | Mart
  If there is no sun
  by Irene Russolillo with Luca Brinchi e Karima DueG
  Another ‘new route’ will be charted by choreographer Irene Russolillo, who signs the new work If there is no sun together with two other artists, Luca Brinchi and Karima DueG, who with her have tackled the journey that has united Italy and Senegal in a dialogue made of gestures and movements.
• September 3rd and 4th | Piazza Caduti sul Lavoro
  Colokolo
  Rovereto will also be the stage for the urban performance by Colokolo, Morocco’s first contemporary circus collective, which brings together performers from different disciplines who experiment with acrobatic areas, juggling and hip hop to traditional music.
• September 3rd – 7th | Piazza del Mart / September 6th | Mart
  GAIA EMPATHY #1 JORDAN / ARANCE – avoid shooting blacks / HERMANDAD
  by Pietro Marullo
  A video installation and two performances are scheduled by Pietro Marullo: GAIA EMPATHY #1 JORDAN (3 to 7 September, Piazza del Mart), ARANCE – avoid shooting blacks (6 September, Mart) and HERMANDAD (6 September, Mart), united by the poetic element of water.
• September 4, 5, 6th | Mart
  Metamorphosis. Atti di metamorfosi contemporanea
  by Carlo Massari
  Carlo Massari instead presents three works: Larva, Blatta and Sapiens, all part of the larger project Metamorphosis. Acts of contemporary metamorphosis signed by the artist associated with Oriente Occidente, who continues to narrate the multiple facets of contemporary society with an essential and sarcastic language.
• September 5th | Giardino delle sculture, Mart
  Manbuhsona
  by Pablo Girolami
  Through the collaboration with Danza Urbana XL, the network that rewards the most talented young choreographers, Pablo Girolami returns to Oriente Occidente with the site-specific version of Manbuhsona, the work that combines the fascination of animal courtship with the consequences that this instinct has on the social relations of a community.
• September 8th  / September 9th | Mart
  A E R E A / SILVER VEILED
  by Ginevra Panzetti and Enrico Ticconi
  For the first time at Oriente Occidente, and as associate artists, Panzetti/Ticconi, one of the most promising companies on the European scene. Based between Berlin and Turin, Ginevra Panzetti and Enrico Ticconi work in a territory where dance, performance and visual art.
• September 9th | Teatro Zandonai
  Made of space
  BY Guy Nader, Maria Campos
  The Lebanese/Spanish company led by Guy Nader and Maria Campos offers the audience an immersion in the purest dance.
• September 9 – 10th  | Rovereto city centre
  Proyecto X
  BY Silere Arts di Andrea Paz
  The city is the protagonist of Proyecto X, the work of the Chilean-Catalan company Silere Arts of Andrea Paz, which with giant inflatable cubes will cross the streets and squares, turning them into a playground, a courtyard where it is still possible to have fun together.

Discover the full programme and buy your tickets here!