GRACES

opening dance performance of the 18th Platform of Contemporary Dance in collaboration with Moment, Narodni dom Maribor, Maribor Puppet Theatre and CQ Minoriti

Zebra

The performance lasts 60 minutes and has no intermission.

Choreography by Silvia Gribaudi
Dramaturgy by Silvia Gribaudi and Matteo Maffesanti
Performers Silvia Gribaudi, Siro Guglielmi, Matteo Marchesi and Andrea Rampazzo
Lighting Design by Antonio Rinaldi
Technical Direction by Leonardo Benetollo
Costume Design by Elena Rossi
Produced by Zebra
Coproduced with Santarcangelo Festival
Supported by MiC – Italian Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Stripping Down the Body. Perfection. Gender.

After a century of liberation, questioning, and framing the embodied body, norms, roles, and beauty—especially femininity, regardless of gender—it seems that culture is still haunted by the concept of "grace." This lofty, fleeting ideal of the "perfect" appearance, posture, and attire, those precise measures, proportions, hues, and textures that the bourgeois 19th century "honored" with history, is only truly attainable in the sublime marble sculptures of Neoclassicism. Transgressing and deconstructing roles and norms is one way to re-conceptualize "grace," but what if there is another, more radical tool for stripping the body of not just gender, but also of perfection? The humanity of humor.

Graces (2019) is inspired by Antonio Canova’s Three Graces (1812–1817), a sculpture that draws from mythology. The three daughters of Zeus—Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia—radiate joy, splendor, and prosperity. In the performance, three male figures step onto the stage, suspended between the human and the abstract: a space where masculinity and femininity meet beyond roles, dancing to the rhythm of nature itself. Joining the three performers - Siro Guglielmi, Matteo Marchesi and Andrea Rampazzo - is choreographer Silvia Gribaudi, who defines herself as a "body author." Her poetics of imperfection is elevated to an art form through a direct, brutal, and empathetic comedic style that transcends the boundaries of dance, theater, and performance art.

Silvia Gribaudi, an award-winning Italian choreographer, focuses her practice on exploring the social impact of bodies, placing a humorous perspective at the center of her expressive language, which is based on a dialogue between the audience and the performers. Her productions have been featured at numerous national and international festivals and are the result of a creative process centered around dialogue and the poetic meeting with specific artists, dance companies, and communities.

For her project A CORPO LIBERO (2009), she received the Premio Giovane Danza D’Autore award. With R.OSA (2017), she was nominated for the Premio UBU for Best Dance Performance and Premio Rete Critica. She is also the recipient of the Premio CollaborAction#4 2018-2019 and was a finalist for the Premio Rete Critica 2019. With Graces, she won the Premio DANZA&DANZA 2019 for Best Italian Production and received the Premio Histryo Corpo a Corpo 2021.