15 June, 6:00 p.m.

17 June, 7:30 p.m.

Teatro Malibran

Stephen Petronio Dance Company (USA)

Beauty and the Brut  [Italian premiere]

choreography Stephen Petronio

original music FISCHERSPOONER mixed by Steve Stein

costume designer Benjamin Cho

Bloom  [Italian premiere]

choreography Stephen Petronio

for Lucia Terzi Bagan

original music Rufus Wainwright

texts Lux aeterna (Latin mass) and the poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson - costume designer Rachel Roy

This is the Story of a Girl in a World  [Italian premiere]

choreography Stephen Petronio

music Antony, Lou Reed, Nico Muhly

costume designer Tony Cohen, Tara Subkoff/Imitation of Christ, Michael Angel

jewels Erickson Beamon

artistic direction Stephen Petronio - production Stephen Petronio Dance Company - cast Michael Badger, Julian De Leon, Elena Demyanenko, Davalois Fearon, Jonathan Jaffe, Mandy Kirschner, Shila Tirabassi, Amanda Wells - in collaboration with Just in Time Art Management, Fondazione Teatro La Fenice di Venezia

Having trained under the influence of the contact improvisation of Steve Paxton at Hampshire College, Stephen Petronio stood out as a dancer at the Trisha Brown Company, and was subsequently an exponent of the best American post-modern before founding his own company in 1984. This was immediately acclaimed by the public and critics throughout the world. The radical approach, the explicit gender marking, the aggressive energy expressed in formal rigour, have brought about a cult team in Europe, in which Petronio has worked also with Michael Clark.

Music, visual arts and fashion come together in the choreographer’s performances, evoking strongly contemporary landscapes. Musicians such as Michael Nyman, James Lavelle, Beastie Boys, Wire, Yoko Ono, Diamanda Galás, Sheila Chandra, Peter Gordon and Lenny Pickett; artists such as Anish Kapoor, Cyndi Sherman, Donald Baechler, Stephen Hannock, Arnaldo Ferrara, Tal Yarden; fashion designers such as Leigh Bowery, Manolo, Yonson Pak, Paul Compitus, Tara Subkoff and Matthew Levi/Imitation of Christ and Tanya Sarne/Ghost have all worked with his shows.

Thus, for the triptych recently presented at the Joyce Theatre in New York and now at the Venice Biennale, Petronio brings a group of artists working on the border line between avant-garde and pop, not long ago considered underground and today in the limelight in the best theatres and clubs of New York, as well as being celebrated worldwide.