Fabbrica Europa’s 2018 Multicultural Arts Festival

Friday, May 4 through Thurs. 31:  FABBRICA EUROPA PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL 2018. Stazione Leopolda, viale Fratelli Rosselini 5, with other varied locations in Florence. Times vary. To attend events of the festival, a Fabbri-card, valid for 5 or 10 events of your choosing, can be purchased for €35 or €50 respectively, while tickets are sold for individual events and can range from €5 – €25. To see the full schedule and purchase tickets, visit www.fabbricaeuropa.net.  For a video preview, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site.

Fabbrica Europa is not only a program of cultural events, but also an arts foundation, dedicated to offering forms of contemporary art including dance, music, theater, installations, exhibitions, conferences, and workshops in Florence.

The old Leopolda train station will be transformed into a stage, laboratory, and workshop for artistic experimentation and research during the month of May, giving the venue a new cultural function in the community.

The program includes dance to photography to music to cinema. Some events which transcend the daunting bounds of a language barrier are as follows: 

STAZIONE LEOPOLDA

A group of Italian dancers led by Chinese choreographer Sang Jijia have been invited to the Fabbrica Europa festival.  The world premiere of their dance and multimedia fusion performance, Re-Mark, will take place at the Leopolda Station on Monday, May 7 at 9 pm, and also on Tuesday, May 8 at 7, 8, and 11 pm.  The work will take a close look at the relationship between the body in space, and its memory, demonstrating the power of physical communication. In this performance, there will be an arrangement of different live shots of the dancers displayed simultaneously as they move on stage. Through similarities in both parts of the performance, a symphony of movement will be created.

A dance piece choreographed by Davide Bombana and performed by Balletto di Roma called Arcaico is scheduled on May 8 at 9 pm at the Stazione Leopolda accompanied by live music. The work was intended as a reaction to a growing intolerance and aims to promote acceptance of what is perceived as ‘the Other.’

Enjoy a work by French composer Carole Rieussec and Mediterranean artist Antonella Bussanich Thursday, May 10, Friday, May 11, and Saturday, May 12 at 7 pm each day. Fragile Abstractions will use music, art, and dance to explore relationships among women.  Combining creative aspects of set design and light show with electronic experimentation of classical music, The Quiet Ensemble’s Back Symphony will be on stage Friday, May 11 at 9 pm.

Lebanese choreographer Bassam Abou Diab and Jacopo Jenna of Italy will collaborate in Florence on a piece called Meeting in order to generate an open debate on cultural diversity and a definition of the body through movement. The show will take place on May 23 at 9 pm at the PARC ex Scuderie Cascine space (Piazzale delle Cascine, Florence).

PARC PERFORMANCES

Lebanese choreographer Bassam Abou Diab and Italian Jacopo Jenna will be collaborating in Florence on a piece called Meeting in order to generate an open debate on the possibilities introduced by cultural diversity and the definition of the body through movement. The show will take place on May 23 at 9 pm at PARC (Piazzale delle Cascine).

The recent project Around_35 (A35) aims to show choreographic and dance research methods of today’s Italian and international young artists through workshops and open presentations. The project is scheduled from Tuesday, May 29 to Saturday, June 2, the final full week of the festival, not at the Leopolda Station, but at PARC. Each day will consist of no less than four performances beginning at 8 pm, and 4 pm on Saturday, June 2.

Another of the many performances to look into include Francesca Lombardo’s Borderlight and designer Danila Gambettola’s Room 00#1 on Wednesday, May 30 and Thursday, May 31 from 8 pm.

Lombardo will dedicate the evening to the complex idea of opportunity through dance. As the protagonist, she will play with light and dark and exaggerated body movements to analyze how a person can face challenges in life.

Gambettola has recently completed training at the Lisbon Forum Dança and the performance will combine an archive of images, objects and the movements of a female dancer. The choreography will explore the relationship between past and present and also the real and imaginative.

With events throughout the month of May in accessible spaces, there’s no reason not to engage with this multicultural artistic festival. 

For more information visit www.fabbricaeuropa.net/en/.  (jennifer klammer & berfin altinisk)