The Arsenale della Danza marks the start of the Dance Sector’s activities organised by the Biennale di Venezia and directed by Ismael Ivo: the first masterclass in the programme takes place on Monday 18th January, led by the American choreographer, Francesca Harper, who for six years has been the principle ballerina at William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt.

 

Created with the aim of providing incentive for the creative energies of the new generations, the Arsenale della Danza is now a year old and is shaping up as a centre for advanced training in contemporary dance and a multifunctional space for artistic production; an open working venue allowing for the interaction between dance and other disciplines – from theatre to the visual arts and architecture, drama to screenplay – in which selected young dancers from Venice, the Veneto and from around the world become the players in a process of choreographic creation in all its aspects, before the final test that is a performance before the international public of the Biennale.

 

The Arsenale della Danza’s first year concluded with the success of The Waste Land, a choreography by the director, Ismael Ivo. In continuity with past experience, three of the most deserving dancers from last year will be working alongside the new arrivals for the production of Aria, the spectacle by Ismael Ivo that will close the 2010 edition of the Arsenale della Danza and which will at the same time inaugurate the 7th International Festival of Contemporary Dance on 26th May.

 

Recognition of the work done is offered with the Danzainfiera Prize – L’Italia che danza (’Italy that dances’), conferred this year on Ismael Ivo (in 2009, it was awarded to Luciana Savignano) in his role as Director of the Dance Sector of the Biennale di Venezia for “his extraordinary contribution to culture and training in the contemporary scene, thanks to projects promoted by Biennale Danza, such as the Arsenale della Danza, Grado Zero and Choreographic Collision”.

 

The activities of the Arsenale della Danza, programmed as part of an annual programme (18th January > 27th May), systematically develops a series of events entitled Open doors: at the end of each cycle of planned masterclasses, there will be demonstrations and lessons open to the public, all held in the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale. But this year, the Arsenale della Danza will also leave the theatre itself and offer happenings in which urban space becomes an opportunity for artistic experience, the development of ideas, a research workshop; it will even go beyond Venice, through a second cycle of events entitled Outdoors, the result of choreographic residences with other institutions and festivals.

With this in mind, the Biennale di Venezia has set up a network of exchanges and collaborations with other organisations working in the local area, promoting the potential for the future amongst the young. With the expected support of the Veneto Region, the following bodies are collaborating with the activities of the Arsenale della Danza: Prospettiva Danza Teatro 2010 with the Padua City Council, Premio Giovane Danza d’Autore with the Bassano del Grappa City Council, the Università IUAV di Venezia, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto. This constitutes an initial nucleus of links aiming to strengthen the work in the region and promoted by the Biennale di Venezia, including them within a context of national and international contacts.

Other collaborations are planned with Danzainfiera in Florence and with Maratona della danza and the Pavia City Council.

 

This year, the 7th International Festival of Contemporary Dance will be held in Venice between 26 May and 12 June, and will see the presence of companies from Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, from Australia and New Zealand, from the United States and from Italy. The title chosen this year by the director, Ismael Ivo, is Capturing Emotions, for as he says, “dance is a workshop of shared emotions and visions”. For the first time, the Festival will be dedicating a space to the most innovative work or which would otherwise not have visibility, called Marathon of the Unexpected, constituting a platform of absolute novelty in contemporary dance.