Chiara Bersani / Corpoceleste
SOTTOBOSCO
Chiara Bersani and her performers lead the audience into the undergrowth of an imaginary forest. Did they get lost in this mysterious habitat? Or were they, perhaps, abandoned here? Maybe the forest simply grew around them one day. What could happen? What becomes of their hearts, wheelchairs, and crutches? In which direction will their eyes peek? What language will they speak? And if somebody finds them, who will approach them? Who will be able to ask their permission?
Chiara Bersani’s new piece SOTTOBOSCO (“Undergrowth” in English) creates an environment in which groups of people with disabilities meet, spontaneously, creating a community.
There is a sky above our heads, impenetrable and horizontal, in which sounds and songs move with the same inexorable velocity as the expanding universe. There is an undergrowth that lives beneath this sky, inhabited by the performers, the audience, other sounds, and other lights, in trembling existence, just like the bodies and the plants. We have no knowledge, as of yet, of that which lies between the sky and the scrub: Sounds, clear and foggy, micro-sounds and very tiny worlds which live upon those macroforms – details that form a vibrant and audible spatial environment that is in constant flux.
By and with Chiara Bersani, Elena Sgarboss, Lemmo; live sound, dramaturgical advice: Lemmo; scenography, lighting design, technical direction: Valeria Foti; costume design: Ettore Lombardi; dramaturgy: Chiara Bersani, Giulia Traversi; artistic advice: Marco D’Agostin; assistance, tour management: Simone Chiachiararelli; production workshop: Chiara Boitani; communication, press relations: Dalila D’Amico; promotion, curation: Giulia Traversi; production management: Eleonora Cavallo; administration: Chiara Fava.
Co-produced by Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition. Tandem “Connecting Dots” L’Arboreto Teatro Dimora – Mondainno (ITA), Sardegna Teatro (Cagliari, ITA), Bunker (Ljubliana, Slovenia) supported by Creative Europe, Theatre Festival Boulevard (s-Hertogenbosch, NL), Carreau du Temple Etablissement culturel et sportif de la Ville de Paris (Paris, FR), tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf, DE), Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin, DE), Rosendal Teater (Trondehim, NO), DansIT (Trondheim, NO), Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix – Hauts-de-France (Roubaix, FR), Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER vzw / Arts Centre VIERNULVIER, (Ghent, BE), Snaporazverein, (Samaden, CH) SPIELART Theatre Festival (Munich, DE) , Centrale Fies (Dro, ITA), Fuorimargine centro di produzione della danza (Cagliari, ITA).
With the support of MiC – DIREZIONE GENERALE SPETTACOLO (ITA), Homo Novus Festival International Festival of Contemporary Theatre (Riga, LV), Santarcangelo; festival project in the framework of the European project BE PART co-financed by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union (Santarcangelo di Romagna, ITA), Skånes Dansteater (Malmö, SE), IntercettAzioni – Centro di Residenza Artistica della Lombardia (Milan, ITA). Project winner of Toscana Terra Accogliente, a project by R.A.T. Residenze Artistiche Toscane, in collaboration with Teatro Metastasio, Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo, Virgilio Sieni Danza, Fabbrica Europa. Creative residency at Officine Papage – Teatro dei Coraggiosi (Pomarance, ITA), Teatro delle Commedie (Livorno, ITA), Teatro Popolare d’Arte (Lastra a Signa, ITA). From 2020 to 2024 Chiara Bersani is supported by apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Supported by the Italian Cultural Institute Cologne in partnership with the Ministero della Cultura – Direzione Generale Spettacolo, in the framework of the international residency programme of the NID Platform and by the Alliance of International Production Houses, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.