Tell us about your dance journey
My dance journey started quite late, I was already 16 years old. I started in a private school in my village in Italy, one year later I was already in the National Dance Academy in Rome where I have studied for 3 years. After I went to Codarts, the following 3 years I worked as a freelance in dance companies in The Netherlands.
Then I stopped dancing and I dedicated myself to social work, I have done this for 6 years, so I thought my dance career was over, but I took a year off and I followed my wife Iratxe Ansa and bit by bit I started dancing again with her..
I also started to help her with the choreographies, not really with the idea of becoming a choreographer but just to explore and have fun.
Slowly it started to be my new job, and in 2019 we started with the company and after that was the pandemic, but the company kept going and raised quite a lot.
After that we started to have commissions in dance companies in Europe and since then we have been working mostly as guest choreographers.
Tell us about your experience in Codarts
Codarts was a very important chapter of my career. It was a really enriching experience and I learned a lot. The third and fourth years I was doing stages in different dance companies in The Netherlands. Codarts gave me a lot in the dance education but also created the link to the working network, because choreographers were coming to the school to do auditions, and that was a very important opportunity.
How did you meet Iratxe Ansa, and how did you start your artistic collaboration ?
I met Iratxe during a project we were doing for Nannine Linning back in 2006.
Was a choreography called "Cry Love" that premiered in the Holland Dance Festival. Back then I was a stagier and Iratxe Ansa was coming after Lyon Opera, was the bridge year before entering NDT.
We met as dancers and at the end of the working period we started our romance.
The collaboration happened when she started to work as a freelancer after the NDT period.
We wanted to be more together, she was traveling a lot and I was in Barcelona, so when I took my year off, we realized that we could really match each other and bring together our different points of view.
How and why did you create Metamorphosis Dance?
Metamorphosis Dance started at the end of 2018. We had a residency in Teatro del Canal (Centro coreografico Canal) in Madrid. We did this experience with the idea of trying out what would have been to have a show with dancers that came specifically for that project. The show went very well, and it also happened to be part of "Madrid en Danza" Festival. Since then we got a lot of attention from the Spanish dance network, so we got motivated to continue and invest in the company.
How do you get inspiration for your choreographies?
The inspiration for our choreographies come from our daily experiences: the travels we do, the people we meet, the books we read, the movies we see, and so on. Inspiration is not a divine light that comes from the sky and hits you, is just the result of what you are.
Tell us about your next project
In the near future we will have several interesting things happening.
This autumn there will be the premiere of a choreography for Birmingham Royal Ballet "Luna" and the re-stage of the Opera "La Sonnambula" in Tokyo.
In the beginning of next year we will create works for Ballet am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Oper Graz in Austria.
Tell us about your last creation
Our last creation was "Rhapsody in blue" created for AterBalletto. Was a beautiful process with a very nice company and dancers. We have decided to choose this music not only because it is a marvelous masterpiece but also because it was the 100 anniversary of the composition. The show has been really successful and gave us a lot of satisfaction. We are continuing to work with AterBalletto since we had a very joyful collaboration.
What are you doing when you are not working?
Lately we are working a lot, so we either create and organize our working life or we are thinking of our next projects. When I can, I really like and need physical exercise, for me it is very important to do sports. For me it's a physical and mental therapy.
Photos:
Portrait - Danilo Moroni & Juan Carlos Toledo
Drifting Out - Bern Ballet - Gregory Batardon
Portrait of an artist - Theater Osnabrück - Oliver Look
Rhapsody in blue - Aterballetto - Christophe Bernard