Every year the prestigious international Zipfest, the annual Contact Improvisation festival in Italy, draws hundreds of dancers and lover of the dance to Orvieto.
Edition 2008, the festival has been chosen as the Italian Satellite Event for the American Cl36 event, the world celebration of the 36° anniversary of the birth of Contact Improvisation, to be held in June at Junata College in the USA, and celebrated simultaneously with events in other parts of the world (www.ci36.com).
An encounter of international festivals devoted to this specific sector of dance.
The debut of Zipfest08 coincides with 21 June-Summer Solstice, the fourth annual appointment of the Four Seasons Jams project. To celebrate both events, Zipfest opens its ninth edition with a non-stop weekend, the International Summer Solstice Jam: from 9 p.m. on Saturday the 21st to 10 p.m. on Sunday the 22nd of June.
The Opening will be marked by an all night dance for the entrance of summer with dozens of artists, performers, musicians and world-wide movers in the Palazzo Caravajal Simoncelli in Orvieto, the prestigious sixteenth-century headquarters-residence, dancing Contact together: a White Night Jam.
The week of June 23 to 29 is an intense calendar of artistic events representing the rich proposals of the Zip program.
Promoting institutions
Organization-Compagnia ALEF, programming-Caravajal15 residenza dinamica, project-artistic direction by the choreographer Rossella Fiumi, the importance of the entire event belongs to the triennial project 2007/2009 issued in the announcement 2006 by the Ministry of Cultural Assets and Activities, agreement State-Regions, earmarked for the integrated system of activities of live performances, in the field of Contemporary activities and public formation.
The festival is part of the programming of the Progetto Spettacolo Umbria, of the policies of institutional-cultural choices of the Region of Umbria, supported by the City of Orvieto, in collaboration with the Teatro Stabile of Umbria, Circuit Umbria in Danza.
Program
Zipfest is a lively kermis with internationally famous guest artists invited to the Umbrian residence from various countries to collaborate in the creative production of events, promoting the identification of a transcultural art.
The festival is an event of art and culture speaking the language of today, questioning itself on the processes or artistic interaction, creating contacts and occasions for cooperation among the guest artists, who bare their experience, affinities and cultural and generational differences in Orvieto, to create the festival together.
Sixteen guest artists from various countries will animate the city from early morning to late at night, taking turns in a dense calendar of jams, performances and concerts, intensive workshops, encounters and laboratories centered around the theme of Contact Improvisation, improvisation dance and the performing arts.
The calendar, in addition to the intensive program mentioned above, announces a week of improvisation performances of dance and music live: Real Time Composition.
Zipfest is not only performances but is also professional and pedagogical training. Four workshops on Contact Improvisation, twelve laboratories on dance and contemporary body languages, improvisation music, meetings, debates, concerts, videos, jams every night.
An unusual program compared to the traditional canons of live performances, the festival represents an original appointment for an audience that loves to take part in the first person in the genesis of the events.
International scene
Nita Little (www.nitalittle.com), American pioneer of Contact Improvisation, an internationally acclaimed artist, invited to Italy for the first time in April in the residenza dinamica of Palazzo Caravajal, for the project Restless Peace, and once more present in June as part of the Zipfest guest artists. Keith Hennessy, a Canadian performer with countless awards, for the first time in Italy, will present an interesting workshop in which improvisation dance, performance and shamanism will be put in relation to each other. Giorgio Convertito, an eclectic Italian dancer who has been living in Helsinki for six years, and is today an artist on the Finnish scene, Jacky Miredin the virtuoso French performer previously invited to Zipfest07 and the young Italian choreographer Sara Simeoni, currently dancing with Carolyn Carlson. The artistic director of the festival, Rossella Fiumi, takes part with her installation titled I'm All Ears, a forum on the theme of listening and communication in contemporary creativity.
Laboratories and performances with the other guests: Jens Biedermann, a Swiss acrobatic dancer and accordion player, Adalisa Menghini, Italian choreographer who has been living in Berlin for years, Alessia Scala a young Neapolitan dancer, Isabelle Uski, Contact improviser from Grenoble, Gionatan Surrenti Italian dancer, improvisor and pedagogue, previously invited to several Zipfest editions, Yanaël Plumet French performer and traveler currently living in Istanbul, the musician and performer Michele Rabbia virtuoso percussionist invited to the preceding editions of the festival and particularly beloved by the Zip public, Marko Timlin Finnish sound artist proposing new modes in the field of electronic sound, composing and improvising on solar panels and Barnaby O'Rorke Tree, a versatile Scotch performer, improviser-cellist, composer and vocalist.
21-22 June White Night Jam
Inauguration-meeting point Residenza dinamica of Palazzo Caravajal, headquarters of the international Summer Solstice Jam, at 9 p.m. on 21 June, throughout the sleepless summer night up to 10 p.m. on 22 June, in the studios-houses-ateliers of artists-cultural-associations-creative-persons-columnists-others who work-look for a Contemporary idiom in Orvieto.
24-28 June Performances, concerts, forum
One of the most eagerly awaited events in Zipfest calendar, the improvisation performances: instant compositions, proposed then and here by the guest artists, in a type of performance called Real Time Composition.
Heart-felt curves
It is a great honor to present and pay homage to Luigi Mario, known also as Engaku Taino, a Zen monk who has been living in the hinterland of Orvieto for many years. He is a fascinating figure with proficiencies and preparation of alpine skiing and rock climbing, as well as a Tai Chi Chuan guru, but above all a person to meet and know to practice meditation.
Luigi Mario has been invited to the festival for two reasons: the first is to lead, aided by assistants, a free climbing session on the rocks of Ferentillo, a splendid zone in Umbria-Valnerina, on June 23rd. It is a unique occasion for those who practice Contact as well as others, because it gives one a chance to find out what it's like trying one's hand at a height of 30 meters, using one's strength, resistance, balance, gravity, weight, feeling of the void, and any number of other emotions to explore.
The second reason is purely contemplative: three meetings of Tai Chi Chuan and meditation.
First time in 2000
The festival takes place in the splendid Etruscan city of Orvieto transformed ad hoc into a satellite of the art of Real Time Composition. During the subsequent eight editions the festival was confirmed as a unique appointment of its kind in Italy, next to similar international events.
Preceding editions: among the special guests for dance Simone Forti, Daniel Lepkoff, Andrew Harwood, Ray Chung, K.J. Holmes and for music Stefano Bollani, Antonello Salis, Gabriele Mirabassi, Michel Godard, Pierre Favre, the Salento group Officina Zoè.
Zipfest08 program: www.contactfestival.it
