Francesco Marilungo is the winner of the Prospettiva Danza Teatro Prize 2020

The winner of the Prospettiva Danza Teatro Prize 2020 is FRANCESCO MARILUNGO with Partygirl.
This year, in addition to the Audience Prize awarded to I carry, you hold by OLIVIA COURT MESA, a Special Mention was also assigned by the jury to the choreographer JACOB GÒMEZ for Meohadim. A heartfelt thanks also to the other finalists: Michele Colturi, Giorgia Fusari, Yaniv Hoffman, Marco Laudani and Mayya Popova.

Covid did not stop the process of selection of one of the most important prizes in the field of contemporary dance, with an international jury of experts who examined the proposed projects with care and attention, opening up a constructive and valuable dialogue with the artists. Due to the health emergency, three of the 4 foreign finalists presented their work through the video of the show. In this hard moment for the art workers, the direction made this decision to support young contemporary dance and not penalize those who could not be present due to force majeure. Finally, thanks to the large public who attended this XI edition of the Prize, to the Fondazione Cariparo and to Banca Etica for their fundamental support.

FRANCESCO MARILUNGO – Partygirl:
The project aims to investigate the concept of the body as an object of desire. What makes a body sensual, what triggers desire in the human being. According to Georges Bataille, the figure who par excellence embodies the essence of desire is the prostitute. Almost archetypal figure that represents death under the mask of life and therefore has the same meaning as eroticism since the it is by definition the place where death and life are confused.
Prostitution turns an offered body into a “dead object”, or rather the dead end of the unleashing of passions.
In Party Girl the accent is placed on this process of objectification of the body, a process that makes the human body almost “inorganic” and which is widely developed within the sex market, where a body shows itself / is put / goes on sale.

Starting from some postures and some movements that trigger desire in the collective imagination, the three dancers build a minimal dance made of stylized, segmented, slowed and suspended movements.
The sensual and erotic component is completely canceled by a body that gradually “loses life”, becomes an object, a mannequin. All the indications of movement and composition are imparted by an external voice, thus bringing the process of objectification also to the level of composition of the performance.
Dramaturgically, the photographic work of Antoine D’Agata, the interviews that he did with the prostitutes with whom he had sexual relations but above all the direct testimonies, the meetings with sex-workers / prostitutes, with anthropologists and industry experts.
On stage there are three televisions which, like artifacts abandoned on the ground, broadcast videos of landscapes of prostitution: streets, night clubs, private apartments.

EVALUATIONS OF THE JURY

Of Zoocam by Michele Colturi
the jury appreciated the cultural deepening underlying the originality of the project, transposed onto the scene with linguistic transparency, also with the complicity of the dramaturg, Ciro Ciancio.

Of Meohadim by Jacob Gomez Ruiz
the jury appreciated the compositional clarity and design coherence in the packaging of a show that already highlights a mature and personal choreographic style.

Of Eigengrau by Giorgia Fusari
the jury appreciated the formal cleanliness and the original concept at the base of a very well developed partnering work, with particular attention to the micro-expressiveness of the bodies.

Of Merge into surreal by Mayya Popova
the jury appreciated the clear visual aesthetics and the ability to find a synthesis between varied compositional styles.

Of I carry, you hold by Olivia Court Mesa
the jury appreciated the professional quality of the performers in creating a contact improvisation performance of considerable expressive power, also thanks to an original musical choice.

Of Partygirl by Francesco Marilungo
the jury appreciated the originality of the project and its scrupulous relevance to contemporary issues. The transposition onto the scene is clear and aimed at vividly, reproducing the author’s dramaturgical intentions.

Of Amuninni by Marco Laudani
the jury appreciated the dramaturgical construction and the executive capacity of the project, starting from the quality of the two interpreters. The aesthetic and musical choices are consistent with the overall aesthetic picture.

 

Pics by Ilaria Foroni.