DANSE MACABRE! A CHOREOGRAPHY OF TERROR

Dance & performance
In the frame of BIDFF #11 – Keep Calm and Keep on Moving

55 min.

Info

Dance of death refers to the general idea that the movements of the stars, the gods, the spirits and nature are also a dance.

Danse Macabre! is an invitation to dance to this unknown beyond, making connections to today’s world through a mix of films, electronic music and light.

The figures mirror and double themselves, penetrate their own image and become not only performers but also embodiments of movement on stage.

Through the inclusion of a film as the third element of the scenic construction, the performance seeks an experience of perceptive displacement of the spectator, probing the dark matter of the imagination.

Imagining means creating internal images, without fixed rules, and connecting them to each other to create fantasies or stories that exist within us and not in reality.

Part of visual materials were designed together with the artist Roberto Fassone, creating another entity through texts that reflect together with the public on the concept of the afterlife. Dance manifests itself in changing forms, attempting to free itself from the violence of representation, oscillating between different poles, making the invisible visible in a hyper-conscious tension between life and death.

Biography

Jacopo Jenna is a choreographer, performer and filmmaker creating stage works, video pieces, and installations. His works reframe the body in relationship with movement, through dance, choreography and videos, working across disciplines and generating a variety of performative contexts. Audiovisual arts and movement are in dialogue, creating a performative act.

As a graduate of Sociology in Italy, he also studied dance in Codarts (Rotterdam Dance Academy). He creates training and educational programmes for various age groups experimenting with new ways of relating to performance art. His projects are produced and supported by spazioK/Kinkaleri.

He has collaborated in Europe with dance companies and choreographic research projects, presenting his works at numerous international festivals and museum institutions including: Centrale Fies (Dro), La Democrazia del Corpo Cango (Florence), Palazzo Strozzi (Florence), Pecci Center for Contemporary Art (Prato), Fabbrica Europa (Florence), Short Theatre (Rome), Danae Festival (Milan), Dansem (Marseille), Bipod Festival (Beirut), YPAM – Yokohama International Performing Arts Meeting, Palazzo Grassi Punta della Dogana (Venice), Chantiers d’Europe – Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Do Disturb – Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Mudam Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, B-Motion festival (Bassano del Grappa), Tanec Praha festival, Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf), Aerowaves Twenty22.

Concept, choreography, video, direction: Jacopo Jenna
Dance and collaboration: Ramona Caia, Andrea Dionisi, Francesco Ferrari, Sofia Galvan
Artistic collaboration and texts: Roberto Fassone
Sound: Alberto Ricca – Bienoise
Lights and technical direction: Mattia Bagnoli
Costumes: Eva di Franco
Shooting video: Matteo Maffesanti
Organization: Luisa Zuffo
Management: Valeria Cosi – TINA Agency
Production: Klm – Kinkaleri
Co-production: Tanzhaus nrw Düsseldorf

Winning Project of the prize CollaborAction #6
CollaborAction XL | azione Network Anticorpi XL supporto per la danza d’autore

Project realized with the contribution of
EFFEA – European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists
co-founded by the European Union

Étape Danse project supported by Mosaico Danza/ Festival Interplay with Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo and Festival Torino Danza, DanzaBureau du Théâtre et de la Danse à Berlin, Fabrik Potsdam, La Maison centre de développement chorégraphique national Uzès Gard Occitanie, Théâtre de Nîmes.

Italian Institute of culture of Cologne MiC-General direction of performing arts

MAD – Murate Art District , Centrale Fies IntercettAzioni-Centro di Residenza Artistica della Lombardia, ResiDance XL, Santarcangelo dei Teatri, Fuorimargine – Centro di produzione di danza e arti performative della Sardegna

Bucharest International Dance Film Festival (BIDFF) is organized by the Tangaj Collective Association.

Event organized with the support of Instituto Italiano di Cultura Bucarest – Il nuovo sito dell’Istituto Italiano.

Partners
Institutul Francez din România (Cinema Elvire Popesco), CREART – Centrul de Creație, Artă și Tradiție al Municipiului București (Grădina cu Filme – Cinema and More), Asociația Spațiul de Artă Contemporană (/SAC@Malmaison), Centrul Național al Dansului București/CNDB, Institutul Italian de Cultură, Studiourile Ferentari, Teatrul MASCA, Asociația ADO – Artă pentru Drepturile Omului (Centrul Vârsta4), Centrul Rezidențial pentru persoane vârstnice „Amalia și Șef Rabin Dr. Moses Rosen”, Animest, Happy Friday Catering

Watched by
Radio Guerilla

Media partners
ELLE, Libertatea, Viva, Unica, Revista BIZ, Haute Culture, IQads, Revista FILM, The Trends, Movienews, Happ.ro, Cărturești, Observator Cultural

“Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, the 11th edition” is a cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.

“Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, the 11th edition” is a project co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB within the „București. Împreună” 2025 Programme. The content of this material does not necessarily represent the official position of the Bucharest City Hall or that of ARCUB. For detailed information about the financing programme of Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB, you can access www.arcub.ro.

Special mentions

During the performance, text in English is faded in at times. Use of fast flashing lights and high-frequency videos.

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DANSE MACABRE! A CHOREOGRAPHY OF TERROR

BUCHAREST INTERNATIONAL DANCE FILM FESTIVAL, 11th edition