Writing on dance
International call open to young under-30 graduates from all over the world with an excellent knowledge of spoken and written Italian language, researchers in Dance, to write critical texts that will be collected in a publication of la Biennale di Venezia.
Research will be on the ground: the selected candidates will be invite to participate to the 19th International Festival of Contemporary Dance and the conversations with artists.
On the basis of the theme proposed by the Director of the Dance Department, Wayne McGregor, the selected candidates will carry out in the Archives, guided by tutor, a search for sources and historical references, to write a text in Italian of a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 15 pages, from its first draft to the printed version.
A maximum of 4 candidates will be selected.
Three phases of research and activities are planned in Venice in the Biennale venues (Ca’ Giustinian, Arsenale, Giardini, Biennale Library at Giardini, Historical Archives at Vega).
Thanks to the Swiss Seaside Foundation.
TITLE
Myth Makers
THEME
[…] Through their inexplicable creativity quest, artists have always been the mythmakers of their day, and it is in their legacy that we delve into the depths of their/our inner selves while articulating universal truths that resonate across times and cultures. Artists are the mythmakers of our day, too, and it is in their creativity that they craft ancient, speculative and contemporary narratives in mark marking, modelling, writing, and performing to enchant, beguile and endure. In a contemporary society, with rapid technological advancements and global challenges such as climate change and social inequality, there is an urgent need for myths that resonate with the current human experience. These new narratives can foster a sense of connection, belonging, and purpose, guiding individuals and communities through difficult times. […] Through movement, motion and meaning, the dance artists of Biennale Danza 2025 have created transformative modern myths that invite us to glimpse into alternate realities and explore diverse ways of existing. The rhythmic flow of their dance mirrors the complexities of life, allowing us to process emotions and express what often remains unspoken. As dancers embody their stories, they offer audiences a shared space for reflection, healing, and connection, illuminating paths of resilience and inspiration. In this shared experience, as we discuss what we have just seen and compare it to what we have seen before, as we remember, process and project, as we touch the work in a broad range of dimensions and ways, we too become an integral part of the mythmaking. Intoxicating, powerful and alive – we seek an ‘enlargement of our being’ (CS Lewis). In our own way, we, too, are the creative MYTH MAKERS.
(Wayne McGregor)
With the intention of reading the myths of yesterday, making them true today, through the great figures of the artists of dance who have embodied them, interweaving the analysis of the performances of the 2025 festival and the historiced dance in the lagoon - a mirror of the history of the world - preserved in the Biennale Historical Archive, starting almost a hundred years ago, the research work will be divided into a series of stages that will allow for in-depth observations, studies, investigations and exercises in thought and writing.
The symbolic and signifying gesture, present in all cultures of the past and on all continents, the healing rites and the manifestations of ancestral and traditional spirituality, of which the present bears the living trace in every inhabitant of the earth and which are already projected into the future hybrid techno-human, natural and artificial, closely interconnected and magnificently shared in the reality of the presence of the body in performance, are the subject of discussion and elaboration around the creation of myths.
Navigating in the vast pelagus of cultures and looking at the values without frontiers or prejudices that guide every authentic desire for mutual understanding on the thread of history and its interpretations, which are always mobile especially for the eternal question of being in the world, the research is designed in a multidisciplinary wholeness, between native dance and theatrical choreography, participatory and frontal dance, flesh and mysticism, tradition and rupture, stage and city, styles and genres, real and virtual worlds, opening that wide and permeable breach that necessarily imposes itself by going towards the authentic, free and shared awareness of which art is the privileged and essential spokesperson.
Tutor: Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino
Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino, graduated in philosophy, trained in academic and contemporary dance, has been involved in ballet and dance for decades writing in newspapers, currently “QN”, periodicals and magazines, “Ballet2000”, “Classic Voice”, “Fyinpaper” online; signs essays for Opera Foundations and theaters, for DVD booklets, art catalogs; was a consultant for Torino Danza from 1987 to 1997, for the Carla Fendi Prize in Spoleto and for the Armonie d'Arte festival in Calabria; collaborates with the Biennale Danza and the ASAC archive of Venice (Iconoclasts exhibition) and also with ERT, Emilia Romagna Theatre. He has published books on Béjart, Kylián, Bausch, Balanchine, Cunningham, Forsythe, futurist and globalized dance, Cuba and tango, speaking on the radio, RAI 3, making television programs on cultural satellite channels (Tele + 3, Rai Sat Show, Rai 5) and curating exhibitions such as La Danza delle Avanguardie at the MART museum in Rovereto-Trento. She has taught History and Aesthetics of Dance at the University of Bologna and Turin, and at the La Scala dance school; and is now a member of Consiglio Superiore dello Spettacolo at Ministero della Cultura.
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
First phase - from 16 July to 2 August 2025
Participation in the activities scheduled within the 19th International Festival of Contemporary Dance (19 days) and beginning of research activities at the Historical Archive and Library guided by the tutor.
Second phase - from 15 to 18 September 2025
specific research activities at the Historical Archive and Library guided by the tutor;
deadline for sending the first draft of the text 19 October 2025
Third phase - from 3 to 17 November 2025
Analysis and in-depth study of the first draft of the text with the tutor at the Historical Archive and the Library;
The deadline for sending the final text is 30 November 2025.
CONDITIONS AND TERMS OF PARTICIPATION
The international call is open to young under-30 graduates from all over the world with an excellent knowledge of spoken and written Italian language.
Attendance for the whole programme is mandatory for participation in the project.
A maximum of 4 candidates will be selected.
The selected participants will be hosted in shared apartments provided by La Biennale di Venezia.
La Biennale di Venezia will also provide participants with tickets for local public transport and meals (lunches).
Selected participants will be required to pay a registration fee in the amount of € 80 (VAT included, non-refundable), to be paid exclusively by credit card.
Note: Applications will not be accepted from candidates selected in previous Biennale College ASAC - Writing in Residence editions.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Documentation
The documentation - which must be sent in Italian exclusively via the online form - consists of:
a) Curriculum vitae - please also specify
a.1) Bachelor's/Master's degree or equivalent degree
a.2) thesis degree title, course of study
a.3) knowledge of spoken and written Italian - minimum required level C1
a.4) other languages known and level
b) submission of 2 texts
1 - cover letter (maximum length 2 pages)
2 - an essay, including bibliographical references, on a contemporary dance show seen (maximum length 2 pages)
Two selection phases are envisaged, the first on the basis of the requested documentation and the second by interview.
La Biennale di Venezia reserves the right in any case to modify, cancel or interrupt the initiative described above, in that the announcement or the selection do not constitute a binding contract for the same, nor do they entail the right to the reimbursement of any expense other than those specified above.
The integral acceptance of the conditions of the Biennale College ASAC – Writing in Residence - Dance call makes the application eligible.
Applications open on 18 April 2025.
Applications deadline 14 May 2025.