The activities of the Dance section of the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, will be held this year from June 25th to 28th: Biennale College – Dance directed by choreographer Virgilio Sieni.

“The spirit of the Biennale College – stated Paolo Baratta – is increasingly permeating the programmes for theatre and dance. Virgilio Sieni will put everyone to work with a great spirit of experimentation in the space of the city, his favourite. Both are inspired by the desire to mobilize as many energies as possible from the younger generations”.

This year the activities of the Dance Sector are dedicated to young dancers in the Biennale College, the project which since 2013 has involved all the sectors of the Biennale in a training programme that offers young artists the opportunity to work side by side with great masters to develop creations. For this edition, Virgilio Sieni has invited 16 choreographers, involving most of them for three weeks in Venice in experimental workshops focused on creation with professional dancers, and in some cases, with adolescents, elderly people and citizens. The workshops will end with short choreographic works to be performed before the public on June 25, 26, 27 and 28.

The invited choreographers are well-established or rapidly rising figures on the international scene, such as Laurent Chétouane, Xavier Le Roy, Cesc Gelabert, Alessandro Sciarroni, Radhouane El Meddeb, Claudia Castellucci, the historic founder of the Socíetas Raffaello Sanzio, Emanuel Gat and Sharon Fridman, leading figures in the new generation of Israeli dance which has won recognition in Europe, Olivia Grandville (who will present an earlier choreographic work by Boris Charmatz), Marina Giovannini and Michele Di Stefano, who won the Silver Lion last year, Virgilio Sieni himself. With them the younger Salva Sanchis, co-choreographer of several productions with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Francesca Pennini’s Collettivo Cinetic, Annamaria Ajmone, and Swiss choreographer Yasmine Hugonnet.