Italy dance residency immerses dancers, faculty in somatic exploration
Five Western Washington University dance students and three Western faculty joined dancers from Italy, Chile, and Colombia for an intensive residency in Arezzo, Italy. The students and faculty are part of a research program exploring dance and somatic practices called "Moving environment."
Organized by the international art center Spazio Seme with Western Washington University the program is an intensive, interdisciplinary study aimed at dance teachers, movement artists, choreographers, composers lasting two weeks.
The participants will perform on Friday 4 August at 7.30 pm at the Teatro Vasariano in Arezzo for the contemporary dance show “Moving Environment” curated by Spazio Seme. Director of Dance Susan Haines worked with Music Department faculty Patrick Roulet (percussion) and Rachel Roulet (collaborative pianist) to create original choreography for the performance.
The show, site-specific for the Teatro Vasariano, is a performance that summarizes the learning and experiences of the artistic residence, and is also realized thanks to the collaboration with Arezzo Music Fest and Associazione Music.
The artistic residence, directed by Consuelo Pacheco (Chile/Italy) and Leonardo Lambruschini (Italy), coordinators of the dance area of Spazio Seme, allows dancers to put into practice new methodologies and languages of a contemporary nature, such as: somatic practices, contact improvisation, instant composition, body-writing and voice. The teachers involved in this program, in addition to the two directors, are: Andrea Vazquez-Aguirre Kaufmann (USA/MX), Susan Haines (USA), Paolo Cingolani (IT) and the staff of Spazio Seme: Francesco Botti (IT), Gianni Bruschi (IT).
The “Moving environment” artistic residency, sponsored by the Municipality of Arezzo, Italy, immerses participants for two weeks in the universe of dance and Italian culture, with visits to Italian cities such as Rome, Florence, Naples, and the artistic history of the city of Arezzo.
