Mauro Bigonzetti
Born in Rome, he graduated from the Scuola del Teatro dell’Opera and joined his hometown’s company immediately. After ten years with the Rome Opera, during the 1982–83 season he joined Aterballetto as a dancer, collaborating with, among others, Alvin Ailey, Glen Tetley, William Forsythe, and Jennifer Muller, and also performing in many ballets by George Balanchine and Leonid Massine. In 1990, he created his first work, *Sei in movimento*
, set to music by J. S. Bach. During the 1992–93 season, he left Aterballetto to devote himself entirely to choreography, initially as a freelancer; during this period, he established a close collaboration with the Balletto di Toscana and worked with various international companies. From 1997 to 2007, he served as artistic director of Aterballetto, revitalizing the company and rebuilding its repertoire; after stepping down from the directorship to focus more on his work as a freelance choreographer, he continued to collaborate with the company as a resident choreographer until 2012. In 2016, he directed the corps de ballet of La Scala.
Mauro Bigonzetti has created choreographies for the English National Ballet, Ballet National de Marseille, Stuttgart Ballet, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Dresden, Ballet Teatro Argentino, Balé da Cidade de São Paulo (Brazil), Ballet Gulbenkian (Portugal), New York City Ballet, Turkish State Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Ballet du Capitole Toulouse, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Arena di Verona, and Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
MM Contemporary Dance Company
The MM Contemporary Dance Company is a contemporary dance company directed by choreographer Michele Merola, founded in 1999 in Reggio Emilia as a production center for events and performances. The company’s repertoire is rich and varied, thanks to the works of its artistic director and other artists such as Maguy Marin, Mats Ek, Mauro Bigonzetti, Silvia Gribaudi, Thomas Noone, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Karl Alfred Schreiner, Eugenio Scigliano, Emanuele Soavi, Enrico Morelli, Daniele Ninarello, Ginevra Panzetti, Enrico Ticconi, Camilla Monga, Roberto Tedesco, and Adriano Bolognino.
Today, the MMCDC is, in every respect, a leading institution in Italian dance, with a well-established program of performances throughout the country. For years, it has captured an international audience with performances in European and non-European countries such as Korea, Colombia, Canada, Germany, Russia, Morocco, Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia, France, Sweden, Finland, and Serbia. Over the years, it has won numerous awards, including the 2022 Danza&Danza Award for Best Italian Production for the show *Ballade*
by Mauro Bigonzetti and Enrico Morelli.
In 2021, 2022, and 2024, she appeared on Rai 1 in the programs *Roberto Bolle Danza con me*
and *Viva la danza*
, performing, among others, choreographies by Mauro Bigonzetti.
Carlo Cerri
Born in Rome, after his early experiences in opera and experimental theater, he served as resident lighting designer at the Balletto di Toscana from 1989 to 2000, and held the same position at Aterballetto from 2001 to 2017. He collaborates with various international companies, including the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Ballett Dortmund, Ballet du Capitole, Ballet Gulbenkian, Ballets Jazz Montréal, Ballet Next, Basel Ballet, Bat Dor, Czech National Ballet, Companhia Nacional de Bailado, English National Ballet, Gauthier Dance, Het Nationale Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, National Ballet of China, Stuttgarter Ballett, Staatsballett Berlin, and Staatsballett Hannover. He has designed sets and lighting for numerous productions, including *Romeo and
Juliet*
, *Bluebeard*
, and *Next*
by Fabrizio Monteverde; *Don Giovanni*
, *Caravaggio*
, *Le Sacre*
, *La Piaf*
, *Canto per Orfeo*
, *Alice*
, *Der Prozess*
, *Cinderella*
, *Haendel*
, and *Madina*
by Mauro Bigonzetti; *Casanova*
by Richard Wherlock; *Don Q*
and *Shahrazad*
by Eugenio Scigliano; *The Raven*
by Joerg Mannes; and *Solitude Sometimes*
by Philippe Kratz. He is the creator of the video-mapping installations *Il cielo stellato sopra di me*
(Reggio Emilia, 2013), *Agorà*
(Reggio Emilia, 2016), La Grande Madre
(Reggio Emilia, 2017), Deinos – Luce dal Caos
(Modena, 2022), and Fetonte
(Modena, 2023).
Studio Millar & Swandale
Kristopher Millar and Lois Swandale are two British fashion designers who live and work in Italy. After completing their studies in the United Kingdom, they moved to Florence, where they worked as assistants to a renowned international fashion designer. They later founded their own atelier in Florence, collaborating as freelancers with prestigious fashion houses in Italy, Paris, and Tokyo. Their first encounter with the world of ballet came through Mauro Bigonzetti, who commissioned them to create costumes and set designs for several productions, including *XNTricities*
for the English National Ballet, *Coppélia*
for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, *Interference*
for the Ballet du Capitole, *Pression*
for the Balletto di Toscana, *Caravaggio*
for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, *Adagio Assai*
for the Basel Ballet, *Il concertone*
for the Stuttgart Ballet, *The Rite of Spring*
and *Orfeo*
for Aterballetto. They have also collaborated with Cesc Gelabert on *Ortensia*
with the Balletto di Toscana and created the set designs for Andonis Foniadakis’s *Antitesi*
for Aterballetto. With Eugenio Scigliano, they worked on *Casanova*
for Aterballetto, *Cenerentola*
for the Baltic Dance Theatre in Gdańsk, *Don Q*
and *Dark Shadows*
for Aterballetto, and *Shéhérazade*
for La Scala.
OOOPStudio
is an artistic project founded in 2010 by video designers Alessandro Grisendi and Marco Noviello. Their works bring visionary ideas to life through processes that start from reality to give rise to new forms—original creations that transcend simple representation and are realized digitally through the fusion and convergence of natural elements that find new life and meaning in the digital realm.
The artists approach art by delving deep into the human experience, using digital tools as the most appropriate medium for expressing the present era. Art and technology engage in a creative dialogue that becomes immersive and vital, giving rise to evocative experiences that draw viewers into the development and evolution of a story.
OOOPStudio also creates projects for theater, music, festivals, and performances, boasting prestigious collaborations with major artistic and cultural institutions such as the Venice Biennale, Teatro alla Scala, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Farnesina), the Staatstheater in Hanover, the Nationale Opera & Ballet / Dutch National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam, and others.
