AUB Ukrainian Ballet Academy & TAM
TAM Dancers and Mia Tsyganova
POV
Choreography
Dancer
Tam Dancers
Yaroslava Denysiuk, Daniela Cotet, Asia Serra, Alessia Grandin, Greta Casini, Chiara Carletti, Sarah Caraffa, Asia Victoria Ferrari, Elena Ferraris, Aurora Del Sordo, Giuseppe Cavagna
About
There is a moment in life when a flower is simply a flower: pure colour, pure fragrance. It all begins with a luminous memory: the carefree gaze of a little girl playing among the flowers. A moment of pure innocence, when a flower is not yet a symbol and does not carry the weight of a message or a gift, but exists solely for its beauty.
POV. Some Stories About Flowers begins with this joyful innocence before inevitably moving into adulthood, where every flower—and every gesture associated with it—takes on different meanings, choices, and emotional weight. The work explores how a simple, everyday action, such as engaging with a flower, can be radically transformed when shaped by different stories, desires, and urgent needs. A minimal gesture becomes the starting point for multiple narrative paths, evoking the resonance of Mrs Dalloway: what matters is not the event itself, but the inner flow of thoughts and emotions that accompanies it.
On stage, the dancers share the same space and the same original gesture. In turn, each of them becomes the “point of view”: their personal story, purpose, or need redirects the action and alters its choreographic development. The movement is repeated, diverted, fragmented, or intensified, revealing how memory, anticipation, loss, or desire can completely reshape the meaning of an apparently identical act.
POV questions the idea that a gesture can ever be objective and invites the audience to reflect: how much of what we observe truly belongs to the action itself, and how much belongs to the story of the person performing it—or to the story of the person watching?
DUENDE
Choreography and Concept
Dancers
Alessandro Molano, Aurora Cedele, Beatrice Goia, Claudia Cavani, Diego Bustacchini, Eva Terrecuso, Francesca Valentini, Gabriele Levizzari, Giorgia Segatto, Giulia Osquino, Isabella Sterrantino, Jacopo Gobbo, Julie Dafne Falaschi Querini, Luca Melfi, Martina De Santis, Martina Nicolazzo, Miriam Bonassi, Rebecca Nostrini, Salvatore Fossari, Sara Chiarello
About
Created at the DAP Festival during a 3/4-day artistic residency, Duende will be performed by a cast selected through audition.
Duende is a movement that rises without explanation, as if born before thought. Bodies move through an uncertain space, suspended between what holds them back and what escapes.
What remains is a subtle tension — something that can be felt, but never fully grasped.
“& DON'T FORGET TO SMILE”
Choreographer and Concept
Interpreter
About
“& don’t forget to smile” discusses topics of identity and the relationship between performer and spectator. Dance, being one of the only ephemeral art forms, brings both levity and frustration in tandem. You can think of this solo as a love letter, an internal narrative, an instruction manual, a map of sorts – from and to Mackenzie. This solo plays with mockumentary style, breaking the fourth wall between the dancer and the audience. A role reversal, where the viewers have the chance to voyeuristically see: the effort, the struggle, acceptance, combat, and both sincerity and artificiality that transpire when performing. In a nutshell, “& don’t forget to smile” is an internal stream of consciousness that the audience gets to be a part of, witnessing these sensical and nonsensical ramblings.
IT’S ONLY US
Choreographer
Dancers
Emma Barnes, Madison Burdette, Reese Gillliam, Makena Fosdick, Chance Johnson, Kaylie Rickles, Kaylee Rae Traverso
Music
BI BU BA BANG by Gummy Bear and Revolution by Eternal Eclipse
About
It’s Only Us is a contemporary dance work that reflects on the tragedy of gun violence in the United States. The first section is dedicated to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, which took place in Orlando, Florida, in 2016, and honors the lives lost in that devastating attack on the LGBTQ+ community.
The second section explores the many ways in which grief is experienced, processed, and carried by individuals and communities who live with the repeated trauma of mass shootings in America. Through movement and music, the piece becomes both a memorial and a powerful statement: a reflection on loss, collective pain, and the urgent need for awareness, empathy, and change.
SUSPENSION OF EGO
Choreography
Jordan Lewis, Reese Conley
Dancers
Azalea Accardo, Brianna Boone, Kristen Cheney, Rebecca Duncan, Myra Ernest, Kacee Holmes, Jocelyn McClure
About
The act of removing one’s self from the center of everything, acknowledging others, and gaining perspective. Something so obvious, yet so rarely practiced today.
Troy University dancers explore the potential impact that empathy can have on society—the freedom and connection a simple act of consideration can create.
REP
Choreography
Brianna Boone
Dancers
Brianna Boone, Kristen Cheney, Reese Conley, Jordan Lewis
About
Remembering execution with a purpose. Carefully defining why we are doing it in the first place.
Never stopping takes a toll on our minds, making us feel accomplished, but in reality we are simply doing without purpose or feeling.
