The European Union Center is excited to welcome the Italian contemporary dance company Artemis Danza to Champaign-Urbana for this year’s EU Day of Art on Monday, March 18 at 7 P.M. Artemis Danza’s performance of “Corpi Violati,” inspired by stories of gender violence and aimed at highlighting the issue of violence against women, will be held in Lincoln Hall Theater (702 S Wright St, Urbana, IL 61801). The event is free and open to the public, and an optional RSVP form may be found here.
Artemis Danza’s performance in Urbana is part of a multi-city tour organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and in partnership with ATER Fondazione and Regione Emilia-Romagna Cultura d’Europa. The Urbana performance is additionally cosponsored by Center for Advanced Study and Women & Gender in Global Perspectives Program.
Choreographed by artistic director Monica Casadei, “Corpi Violati” debuted at the Municipal Theater of Ferrara’s Contemporary Dance Festival in 2022. “In ‘Corpi Violati,’” Casadei says, “I continue the investigation of a theme that is very close to my heart, violence against women, which began several years ago with the transposition into dance of some famous femicides from Italian melodrama and beyond. After Tosca, Violetta (Traviata) and Carmen, and a multi-year collaboration with the Anti-Violence Centers of the D.I.Re Network, I also address the topic again in light of the sad and disturbing reality that news data reports on the increase in domestic violence during the Covid pandemic, and in general suffering and abuse against all minorities.”
“Corpi Violati” begins with the reading of select texts on the theme of gender violence. At the Urbana performance, the texts will be read by Aliza Gussin and Lila Dettelback, undergraduate students from the Lyric Theatre program at UIUC. The performance will be accompanied by Fabio Fiandrini’s electronic remixes, featuring samples from classical and contemporary European and American composers.
EU Day of Art grew out of EU Day, one of the European Union Center’s most high-profile annual events. Previous EU Days of Art featured classical and contemporary music, poetry, theatre, and dance.
For more information on Artemis Danza and the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, please visit their websites.