THE DANCE ROOMS 2026
A festival designed to explore dance in its many forms, through the convergence of tradition and innovation, and of different artistic languages and sensibilities. Two days to explore the diverse paths of contemporary choreography, to observe the present from ever-changing perspectives, and to allow ourselves to be challenged by the ideas, questions, and visions that define our time.
The festival reaffirms its commitment to supporting Italian choreography and pays special attention to emerging artists, who bring fresh perspectives and new approaches to their work—approaches that increasingly highlight, through their creations, a desire to explore the relationship between human beings, one another, and the world we inhabit.
Le Stanze della Danza also places a strong emphasis on inclusivity, with the goal of creating an open and accessible space where dance can serve as a universal language—one capable of connecting people, welcoming diversity, and celebrating differences. Performances alternate with site-specific works, transforming the festival venues into spaces for encounter and sharing; dance thus becomes an experience of reciprocity and dialogue: an opportunity to meet others, broaden one’s perspective, and multiply the possibilities for sharing the artistic experience together.
This edition is dedicated to Thierry Parmentier, who represented not only an important artistic connection for the Company, but above all a presence capable of leaving a profound mark on a human level.
“Le Stanze della Danza” is a project conceived and organized by the “Città di Rovigo” Ballet Association – Fabula Saltica Company
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
FONTANA CENSER SQUARE, 5:00 P.M.
AIRLINE
LIKE AN ACROBAT ON THE WATER
It is a walk that seeks to respect the river’s rhythm, dictated by the flow of the water. A walk marked by balance and endurance, by letting go and holding one’s breath. Two dancers move among images, memories, and sounds. The elements barely touch one another as they continuously slip away, carried by the current.
The Arearea theater company’s productions span the dual realms of theatrical performance and performance art in everyday spaces. Arearea’s poetic vision lies in its challenge to the conventional ways in which the stage and public squares are used.
Valentina Saggin has been a core member of the company since 2002, serving as a dancer, assistant choreographer, and choreographer. In recent years, her work has focused on the theme of boundaries and limits—political, social, natural, and inner.
Duration: 20 minutes
Q200 HUB, 9:00 p.m.
FABULA SALTICA COMPANY
RESONANCES
*Risonanze* is a performance project in which every element—sound, silence, space, and movement—interacts with the others, intertwining in a subtle web of references. From this dialogue emerges a profound exploration of the relationship between the body, space, and memory. The performance takes the audience on a journey suspended between reality and imagination, bringing to life on stage a surreal universe where time seems to stretch or come to a standstill. It is here that a symbolic narrative emerges, constructed through signs, resonances, and silences. The composition gradually opens up to a dreamlike dimension, where the body’s movement becomes a story and the music amplifies its subtlest emotions.
*Risonanze* is an invitation to cross a threshold: the one that separates and, at the same time, unites the real and the imaginary, rigor and lightness, the concreteness of the body and the lyricism of vision, in a continuous interplay between bodies, sounds, spaces, and memories.
Duration: 20 minutes
ATACAMA COMPANY
THE LAST MAN
The performance offers a poetic and critical reflection on contemporary society, marked by hyperproductivity, competition, and isolation. Inspired by Byung-Chul Han’s *The Society of Fatigue*, it explores how the modern individual exploits themselves to the point of burnout, becoming a “performance machine.” Through references to the myth of Prometheus and the concept of “healing fatigue,” the work proposes an alternative path: to slow down, rediscover emptiness, and reclaim a human space for listening and awareness.
The Atacama Company was founded in 1997 by Patrizia Cavola, a choreographer and dancer, and Ivan Truol, a choreographer, dancer, and actor, and is supported by the MiC. Since October 2009, the company has held an artistic residency at La Scatola dell’Arte in Rome, a training and production center managed and directed by the two choreographers, which fosters in-depth choreographic research and helps the company establish strong ties with the local community.
Duration: 18’
MANDALA DANCE COMPANY
WIRETAPPING
Through contemporary dance, improvisation, and instant composition, the performance navigates and explores the spaces it inhabits—not as a set, but as an interlocutor: a living organism to be listened to, experienced, and engaged with. The performance presents the audience with an image that is both powerful and deeply poetic: bodies that move through and inhabit spaces, entering into a dialogue with matter, light, and silence.
Mandala Dance Company, a contemporary dance company supported by MiC, has been active in Italy and abroad since 2010. It presents itself as an auteur-driven company, embracing the artistic language of Paola Sorressa, its founder and artistic director. The company is based in Ladispoli (RM).
Duration: 20 minutes
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
PORTICO DELLA GRAN GUARDIA, 5:00 p.m.
IRENE K. COMPANIES
At L’OMBRE DU BANANIER
Desires and regrets—sometimes they meet, sometimes they clash. No certainties, only shivers that settle in the body and vanish just as quickly. Compagnie Irene K. is an independent contemporary dance company directed by Irene Kalbusch. For its productions, the company collaborates with professional dancers and choreographers of various nationalities. Human beings—with their desires, fears, and visions—are at the heart of the company’s choreography. In addition to stage performances for adults and children, Compagnie Irene K. creates performances for public spaces. The performers draw upon and reinterpret the unique characteristics of the venues and their respective architectures; the result is a series of ever-changing, ephemeral images that surprise the audience. The company’s work has been presented around the world.
Duration: 10 minutes
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Q200 HUB, 6:00 p.m.
IMPROVISED DANCE
THE CHRYSALISES
Living in a plastic shell as a new home and seeking within it the desire to be reborn and to coexist. *Le Crisalidi* is an ongoing research project; the idea stems from the new housing possibilities offered by the planet and submerged places. In this research, packaging is transformed into igloo-like shells that house living beings in spaces that are seemingly confined but which, in reality, offer comfort to living beings who have nothing left because nothing is needed. The restriction of breathing creates new avenues for bodily ventilation, such as gills, and the lights inside the chrysalises represent lives in the making.
The Danza Estemporada Company was founded in 1998 in Sassari and is directed by Livia Lepri. It is supported by the Ministry of Culture (MiC), the Region of Sardinia, and the Fondazione di Sardegna.
Duration: 15 minutes
TOCNADANZA
THE WOMAN HAD SNOW IN HER HAIR
Fragments of a woman’s world where transformation is a necessary act and
Conscious of evolution.
Dafne Secco is a young dancer presenting her first original work. She has been collaborating with Tocnadanza Venezia since 2025.
The Tocnadanza Company, founded in 1991 and directed by Michela Barasciutti, is a professional dance production company that has been based in Venice for 35 years; it is funded by the MiC and recognized by the City of Venice and the Veneto Region.
Duration: 20 minutes
E-MOTION GROUP
JUST A SOLO – JUST A SOLO BY A LONE MAN
“Just a Solo” is a tribute to solitude—so silent, ever-changing, and generative. The empty stage, populated only by a dancer who brings to life a true ritual, one that is repetitive and alienating. An intimate, suspended moment—an opportunity to step away from the frenzy of everyday life, a journey into the unexplored depths of one’s soul, a solitary dialogue with the hidden fragilities of one’s being. Just a solo is simply a solo performance by a lone man.
In 2020, Antonio Taurino joined the Gruppo e-Motion company, directed by Francesca La Cava, as a dancer, performer, and emerging young choreographer. Based in L’Aquila, the company is known for its artistic exploration that blends physical movement with profound and sociological themes; it is supported by the MiC and the Abruzzo Region.
Duration: 20 minutes
IRENE K. VOG COMPANIES
NIEMANDSLAND
A mask and a skirt become a pretext. Gender is a social construct. The mask is a symbol of duality: true or false identity, real or imaginary, secret and concealed thoughts, the different forms of the “self.” Two people connected to one another—for better or for worse. A game of dependence and independence, of holding back and letting go, of closeness and distance.
The Compagnie Irene K. is an independent contemporary dance company directed by Irene Kalbusch. For its productions, the company collaborates with professional dancers and choreographers of various nationalities. The human being—with all their desires, fears, and visions—is at the heart of the company’s choreographic work.
In addition to stage productions for adults and children, the Compagnie Irene K. creates performances for public spaces. The performers draw inspiration from the unique characteristics of these locations and their architecture and reinterpret them; the result is a series of ever-changing, ephemeral images that surprise the audience. The company’s work has been presented all over the world.
Duration: 30 minutes
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, AND SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
Q200 HUB, FROM 11 A.M. UNTIL THE END OF THE PERFORMANCES
ARCHIVE OF MEMORY
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
An exhibition dedicated to the artistic history of the Fabula Saltica theater company, which this year celebrated its 40th anniversary, featuring photographs, program booklets, sketches, videos, excerpts from the company’s historical repertoire, sets and costumes from its most significant productions, audio clips of the original music composed for the shows, testimonials, and materials related to workshops for schools and socio-educational activities for the general public.
Visitors will also be able to submit their own written or video contributions, sharing memories, impressions, and experiences
related to the company.
