«The body keeps on changing, tirelessly». Conversation with Davide Valrosso
Your work, We_pop, is the result of a research process which started with the project I would like to be pop. Does the evolution of this show lay, perhaps, in this switch from “me” to “us” from the intent to the actual creation?
The show has certainly undergone an evolution, or at least some sort of transformation. At first, I wanted to design a show whose features were clearly attributable to pop art, or that had at least something to do with popularity: mine was more of a declaration of intent. Then the work became more streamlined, and came to acquire a different connotation both from the aesthetic and from the conceptual point of view: and that is how We_pop came to life.
In what sense the can the movement of the body be pop?
My desire was that of taking conceptual dance to a more popular level. So I developed a set of structures and systems of movement which were very close to the dance of the 90s: I created something quite canonical from the point of view of the overall structure, yet rich in enigmatic codes, derived from the reasearch on the quality of gestures and on their ability to evoke images and signifiers. For me, this work represents a bridge between a world I used to frequent for a long time and something else, which contaminates it.
You worked as a dancer for a long time, and only over these last years you have developed your personal research as an author. How did this passage take place and to what extent is it reflected in We_pop?
I have always wanted to work as an author, even though being a dancer was extremely important in order to gain experience. I am convinced that the author is not just a creator, but someone who has the ability to convey something to other bodies, which are an alive and changing matter. The body is not like marble, but keeps on changing, tirelessly. My art is transmitted through a body to another body, which has another art inside, so it is an encounter of energies. I never defined myself as an author, until this year I answered some important questions: what is the role of contemporary dance now? What can it do? Where can it get? At the very moment when I answered these questions, which have an influence on all my creative principles, I started to define myself as an author. I thought of We_pop as a simple work, a bridge between the duality of modern and conceptual dance, in order to take the audience towards another way of seeing dance. There is always a duality between modern and conceptual dance: and this is precisely where this work can get to, to those places which are not explored by conceptual dance.
How did your collaboration VAN association – which supports your performance – start?
The collaboration started in a very informal way, because I am a friend of Marco D’Agostin. I know artistically Giorgia Nardin and Francesca Foscarini and I had seen before the other artisists on stage: Andrea Costanzo Martini e Camilla Monga. I am very happy to work with them. I think that all the associates are taking on tour extremely remarkable works, even though in the utmost diversity: we are extremely different from each other, and what brings us together is the fact of presenting a high-quality generational proposal.
What do you expect from this edition of NID Platform?
I’d rather not have any expectations, and just present my work in the best possible way. Of course I am very interested in seeing other works so as to understand in which historical moment we are living, what is happening around us; and also in giving something of myself.
Davide Valrosso
After graduating from the English National Ballet, he studies in several European contemporary training centers. He has colaborated for five years with Virgilio Sieni company. Along his career he worked with Cristina Rizzo, Fabrizio Favale, Tino Sehgal, Paul Bronstein, Ariella Vidach, Laura Corradi, Paul Mohovich, Gustavo Ramirez, James Godani, Eugenio Scigliano, Raymon Sullivan, Daniele Ninarello, Antonello Tudisco, Raphael White, Pascal Touzea. He currently works as an author with “Cosmopolitan Beauty”, produced by CANGO_ Production Centre on body language and dance, and “We_Pop”, commissioned by Festival East West, of which is an associated artist. Recently selected for “ResiDanceXL” -2017, a project supporting creation, and the project “Testing Signature” of AnticorpiXl network – through which will work for the Balletto di Roma. He will also work for the National Dance Academy of Rome in the project Resi’AND.
Interview by Lisa Cadamuro, NID Platform staff
Translation by Chiara Andreola, NID Platform staff