Emanuela Tagliavia is dancer and choreographer. She began studying classical dance at a very young age. She completed her training in France, focusing on contemporary dance, where she became an interpreter, creator, and eventually a teacher. She received the Prix de la Ville de Montauban, the Aldo Farina Award, and the DanzaArenzano Arte e Napoli Award. She has collaborated with companies such as Carla Fracci Company, the Ballet Company of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Ballet du Louvre, Ballet des Temps Modernes, Europa Ballet, Alain Marty Company, Philippe Tressera Company, Gabriella Stazio’s Movimento Danza, Susanna Beltrami Company, and Ariella Vidach Company. She worked as a choreography assistant at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples for Šparemblek, Nureyev, North, Malandain, and Monteverde.
Her career as a choreographer began in the mid-1990s when she created choreographies for Paul Hindemith’s Der Dämon at the Piccolo Teatro Studio in Milan (1996), the multimedia project ‘Y:T:T:T:0:M:’ by Roberto Masoti, ‘iro del tavolo, a guest performance at the Roccella Jonica Festival, and 12 minuti all’alba, a choreographic project commissioned by Giorgio Gaslini (1998). She created Corto Circuito for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma School (1999). Between 2000 and 2003, she created À la Carte, performed at the Teatro Piccolo Regio in Turin, the Civitavecchia Festival, and the Cagliari Festival; Waitingage for the Danza da Bruciare showcase in Rome, M’encanta, originally created for the Rapallo Festival and later performed in various Italian theaters.
She directed and choreographed Racconti di sabbia, a children’s show, and signed Trio destino presented at the Bol’šoj Theatre in Moscow. In the same years, she created Macbeth, La valse à mille temps with music by Jacque Brel, Ceci n’est pas and Carmen, inspired by Peter Brook’s ‘Tragedie de Carmen’, for the Teatro alla Scala Ballet School. She also worked in cinema, choreographing the film Io no directed by Simona Izzo (2003).
In the field of opera, she choreographed Nabucco (2001) directed by Stefano Monti for the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, performed in Busseto and Siena; Rigoleto (2002) directed by Vitorio Sgarbi, also for the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, Aida (2003) directed by Stefano Monti, staged at the Great Opera Seoul in Korea.
In 2008 she collaborated with Milan Science Museum for 506 and Luminare Minus (2008), the later featuring Luciana Savignano. In 2017, ‘Luminare Minus’ and her new creation Funambolia inaugurated the Teatro Gerolamo dance season. Between 2009 and 2014, she created works such as Oscillazioni, Balthus Variations, Hopper Variations, ‘Pour en Herbier, Island, and Encore une Valse, expressing her sensitivity to figurative art.
In 2015, with the creation of Combustioni , she was one of the protagonists of the reopening of the Teatro Continuo in Milan, designed by Alberto Burri. In 2016, Tagliavia choreographed Qohelet, presented as part of Jewish in the City #150, produced by Teatro Franco Parenti. In 2017, she created
the choreographic movements for La Gazza Ladra, performed at Teatro alla Scala and directed by Gabriele Salvatores; she collaborated on the restaging of José Limon’s Unsung performed at Teatro alla Scala and Teatro Strehler; she worked alongside Claudia De Smet for the staging of La Stravaganza by Angelin Preljocaj at Teatro Strehler.
In 2018, Emanuela Tagliavia created Murmuration, an original choreography to Debussy’s ‘Prelude a l’Apres Midi d’une Faun’. performed at Teatro Gerolamo as part of Pulchra Minima, a contemporary dance festival she directed. She also created ‘hansons de Bilitis, a choreography for Luciana Savignano, performed at the Conservatory of Milan alongside Murmuration in an evening dedicated to Debussy. She returned to La Scala to choreograph the dances of Ali Baba e i 40 ladroni, directed by Liliana Cavani and conducted by Paolo Carignani.
In January 2019, she was responsible for the artistic coordination of the Dance Gala held at the Teatro Fabbri in Forlì in collaboration with Aterballeto. In February 2019, she choreographed the restaging of Qohelet which was performed with great success at Teatro Franco Parenti. In March 2019, she participated in the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, where two of her choreographies were performed by the students of the Teatro alla Scala Ballet School. In the summer of the same year, she choreographed the movements for Dolce & Gabbana Alta Sartoria men collection event in Sciacca, Sicily. In September, she was in Abu Dhabi, where she created the choreography of the opening event of the 24th World Energy Forum.
In January 2020, at the Fonderia, home of Aterballeto – Fondazione Nazionale della Danza, she staged Shortcut. a show that brought together some of her most iconic works from the previous fitieen years. During the lockdown, she created the choreography for Prisma, a video presented at Palazzo Marino as part of the Italian Soundtracks Festival, Un Patrimonio Di Suono. In the fall of 2020, she collaborated on the Natale con Charles Dickens project, directing and choreographing a video inspired by A Christmas Carol. She was invited to participate in the Human Signs Global Participatory Dance and Voice Project conceived and curated by musician Yuval Avital.
In the spring of 2021, she created Il moto è causa d’ogni vita, a video performance filmed at the Museum of Science in Milan, produced for the 10th edition of Palazzo Marino in Musica. In the fall of the same year, in collaboration with Movimento Danza di Napoli, she created the solo piece Il Paradosso di Lulù, performed in Rome and later at the Teatro San Nazzaro in Naples as part of the Campania Festival. In December 2021, LADY M, a short work for the students of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala Ballet School, was performed as part of the 10th edition of La Prima Diffusa.
In 2022, she presented an excerpt from Hopper Variations for the Padova Danza Project and created Decotango with music by Shostakovich and Stravinsky, for the Balleto di Milano. In July she received the Napoli in Danza 2022 Award for her work as a choreographer.
In november 2022 Le Mani degli Angeli is staged for Padova Danza. In December 2022 Nuvole in Viaggio is staged for La Prima Diffusa (Accademia Teatro alla Scala and Teatro alla Scala). In April 2023 she creates Human Mandala e for the Salone del Mobile. May 2023 Balthus Variations (Teatro Strelher). July 2023: Deux à Tiroir for Dap Festival (Pietrasanta), a duet for Alice Mariani and Matia Semperboni, principal ballerina and soloist at Teatro alla Scala.
Since 1999, Emanuela Tagliavia has been a contemporary dance teacher at the Ballet School of the Accademia delle Arti e Mestieri del Teatro alla Scala, where she also serves as a choreographer.
