
Italian award-winning performer Chiara Bersani and her performers take the audience into the undergrowth of an imaginary forest. Are they lost or did someone abandon them ? Or has the forest grown around them one day? What happens to their hearts, wheelchairs and crutches? Chiara Bersani’s new play SOTTOBOSCO creates a new world between horizon and forest floor, an environment where groups of people with a disability can spontaneously meet and form a community. With this tender performance, she takes a new step in her artistic research into the politics of the body.
SOTTOBOSCO is based on workshops with people with motor disabilities, for which Chiara Bersani invites people back to each location. In this project, the choreographer explores with a group of local performers how disabled bodies can coexist with nature. Thus, she continues her intensive artistic exploration of the politics of the body, questioning how the images she creates interact with social narratives and how bodies dance.
With the term Sottobosco, a new art movement emerged in 1650, highlighting the underbrush. The elements in a forest that are often overlooked such as fallen tree stumps, mushrooms and moss are given leading roles. For in the small creatures in the shadows lies enchanting beauty.
Play dates
Actie / creatie: Chiara Bersani. Sound & dramaturgisch advies: Lemmo. Decorontwerp, licht & technische leiding: Valeria Foti. Kinderopvang & tourmanagement: Chiara Boitani. Dramaturgie: Giulia Traversi / Chiara Bersani. Distributie & curatorschap: Giulia Traversi. Communicatie & persmap: Dalila D’Amico. Logistiek & organisatie: Eleonora Cavallo. Administratie: Chiara Fava. Productie : Corpoceleste c.c.0.0#. Coproductie : Theaterfestival Boulevard (s-Hertogenbosch, NL), Centrale Fies (Dro, ITA), Tanz Im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlijn, BE), Rosendal Teater (Trondehim, NO), Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix – Hauts-de-France (FR), Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER, Gent (BE). Met de steun van Skånes Dansteater (Malmo, SE), Danae Festival (Milano, Ita), Homo Novus Festival (Riga, LV). Projectwinnaar van Toscana Terra Accogliente, een project van R.A.T. Residenze Artistiche Toscane, in samenwerking met Teatro Metastasio, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo, Virgilio Sieni Danza, Fabbrica Europa van 2020-2024. Chiara Bersani wordt ondersteund door apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, een project medegefinancierd door het Creative Europe Programme van de Europese Unie.