One of the most virtuosic jumps in classical dance, the grand jeté is  consequently often reserved for triumphant final scenes. But no matter  how much skill is needed to fly majestically through the air, we are all  doomed, one day, to fall to earth. But is that a tragedy? In this new  piece, created and danced with MM Contemporary Dance Company, Silvia  Gribaudi transposes this movement’s metaphorical meaning to everyday  life. The Italian choreographer, whose impish humour is her calling  card, delivers a show that rebels against the irreversibility of endings  foretold and promises an optimistic future. Gribaudi, whose artistic  research is focused on bodies’ social impact, is convinced that each  ending contains the seed of something new; and that the courage to leap  into the unknown should be celebrated, whatever the odds of failure. So,  are you ready for your own “grand jeté”? 

Source: Biennale de la danse 2023

Silvia Gribaudi is an Italian choreographer who also specialises in performing arts in general.
 Since 2004 she has focused her research on the social impact of bodies,  having set at the centre of her choreographic language the comic  element and the relationship between audience and performers.
Award-winner of the Premio Giovane Danza D’Autore with her piece A CORPO LIBERO(2009), finalist at the Premio UBU for best dance show and finalist at the Premio Rete Critica award with R.OSA  (2017), winner of the Premio CollaborAction#4 2018-2019, finalist at  the Premio Rete Critica 2019, winner of the Premio DANZA&DANZA 2019  for best Italian production with the piece GRACES and Premio Histryo Corpo a Corpo 2021.

She has taken part in several artistic research projects, including:
CHOREOROAM (2011), TRIPTYCH (2013), ACT YOUR AGE (2014) – an EU project about active ageing through the art of dance, which inspired the performance WHAT AGE ARE YOU ACTING?, as well as the community project OVER 60; PERFORMING GENDER (2015); CORPO LINKS CLUSTER (2019/2020), where the connection of dance, the mountains, and the mountain community gave life to the site specific project TREKKING COREOGRAFICO (choreographic trekking) and to the piece MONJOUR  (2021), produced by Torinodanza Festival in collaboration with Teatro  Stabile del Veneto and Brussels’s Les Halles de Schaerbeek.

In  2021 she has been a guest choreographer at “Danser Encore, 30 solos  pour 30 danseurs”, a project for the Opéra de Lyon and in June 2023 her  new production will be premiered: GRAND JETÉ, a coproduction by MM  Contemporary Dance Company (IT), La Biennale de Lyon (FR), Théâtre de la  Ville (FR), Rum för Dans (SE), Torinodanza  Festival (IT), International Dance Festival TANEC PRAHA (CZ), Zodiak –  Side Step Festival (FIN) e dal network internazionale Big Pulse Dance  Alliance..

Her  shows have been featured in a number of national and international  festivals and are the result of a creative process that focuses on  dialogue and on the poetic encounter with other artists, dance  companies, and communities.

Source: Silvia Gribaudi

More information: silviagribaudi.com

Juliette Belanger is a director and editor, mainly in the field of live performance (theater, dance, music, etc.).

It was during her first years of study in Métiers des Arts et de la Culture, which she began in Lille in 2018 and finished in Paris in 2021, that Juliette developed her skills and taste for images and video creation. 

She soon became intrigued by the world of live performance, and her first professional experiences began in 2019. Between theater festivals, companies and other production associations, she discovers and defends the stakes of video for the dissemination of live performance. She completed her university studies in 2022, taking the Licence Professionnelle Techniques et Pratiques Artistiques du montage at Lyon II.  

She discovered the world of dance in 2023, working with Fabien Plasson, video director at the Pôle Image de la Maison de la Danse. 

Today, she produces and edits video footage of theater and dance performances for various festivals, companies and cultural events, while continuing to create various video content around the performing arts (reports on creations, artist portraits, etc.).

MM Contemporary Dance Company, basée à Reggio Emilia, en Italie, est dirigée par le chorégraphe Michele Merola. La compagnie est née en 1999 en tant que centre permanent pour la production d'événements et de spectacles et en tant que promoteur de projets et d'ateliers dans le but de soutenir les échanges et les alliances entre les artistes italiens et internationaux, les témoins et les porte-parole de la culture contemporaine.

Le répertoire de la compagnie est composé d'un large éventail de styles : Les œuvres de Merola et d'autres créations de chorégraphes internationaux et italiens comme Mats Ek, Mauro Bigonzetti, Thomas Noone, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Karl Alfred Schreiner, Emanuele Soavi, Enrico Morelli, Eugenio Scigliano, Daniele Ninarello.

En 2010, le MMCDC a remporté le prix de la critique Danza&Danza en tant que meilleure compagnie de danse italienne émergente et, en 2017, le prix Europaindanza - Merit Award to Choreography pour le spectacle Bolero de Michele Merola.

Aujourd'hui, la compagnie est, en effet, un ensemble exceptionnel de danse italienne, avec une activité consolidée de spectacles dans tout le pays : elle est accueillie dans de nombreux théâtres dans la plupart des régions italiennes, est invitée dans les principaux festivals, collabore avec presque tous les circuits régionaux. A l'étranger, le MMCDC a été présent dans des pays européens et extra-européens tels que la Corée, la Colombie, le Canada, la Russie, l'Allemagne, le Maroc, la Belgique...

Source: MM Contemporary Dance Company

More information: michelemerola.it