test CONTEMPORARY MASS CHOREOGRAPHIES IN ITALY: VIRGILIO SIENI’S «AGORAS» AND «CIVIC WALKS»|ΠΑΡΑΒΑΣΙΣ/PARABASIS

CONTEMPORARY MASS CHOREOGRAPHIES IN ITALY: VIRGILIO SIENI’S «AGORAS» AND «CIVIC WALKS»

Εξώφυλλο Παράβασις Τόμ. 20 / Cover Parabasis Vol. 20
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Published: Nov 24, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681//.43021
Rossella Mazzaglia
Abstract

Marseille 2013: more than a hundred amateur performers from different areas of the Mediterranean conjoin in site-specific dances claiming a multicultural polis. Short after in Italy, several cities become venues of mass choreographies enacting «agoras» and «civic walks» in iconic sites. The artist beyond these secular rituals is Virgilio Sieni, a leading Italian choreographer, and a model case in Italy for performances with amateur dancers. Selected case studies from his productions will be compared to other forms of participatory art such as theatre and analyzed as «community figures» (Rancière), and «assemblies of bodies» (Butler) ultimately elucidating forms of cultural resilience to the political Italian scene of the pre-pandemic years.

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  • Ειδικό Αφιέρωμα / Special Issue
Author Biography
Rossella Mazzaglia

Rosella Mazzaglia (Italy) is Αssociate Professor at the University of Bologna. Her research interests mainly focus on the Italian Dance Scene, Postmodern Dance, community and urban practices in theatre and dance, social theatre and migration. Among her publications, she is the author of the first biography on Virgilio Sieni (Virgilio Sieni. Archeologia di un pensiero coreografico, 2015). Her other volumes are Danza e Spazio. Le metamorfosi dell’esperienza artistica contemporanea (2012), Trisha Brown (2010), Judson Dance Theater. Danza e controcultura nell’America degli anni Sessanta (2010). She is editor of the books Crescere nell’Assurdo. Uno sguardo dallo Stretto (with Lorenzo Donati, 2018), Trisha Brown. L’invezione dello spazio (It/En, with Laura Polveroni, 2010), and of the monographic issue of the journal «Culture Teatrali. Danza/900. Testimonianza e riflessioni intorno al processo creativo» (2006).