“The universe is movement itself, pleasure to create, vitality that constantly renews: everything is dance. In this perspective is implicit the message: you are not alone; however precarious, isolated, or desperate you may feel, you participate in one immense dance; […] If you want to become aware of this union and perceive reality in its deepest essence, dance”.
Piero Ferrucci, Esperienze delle Vette

‘Ima’ is a Japanese term for ‘the present moment’; in Aramaic and Hebrew it also stands for ‘mother’ in its meaning of rebirth and renewal.
IMA quintet was imagined during the period of social distancing. We found ourselves alone in our true home – our body – where the main tangible and temporal dimension is the present, and our existence becomes more sensitive to small things.
In this space, the need to relate to the other, in the absence of physical contact, leads to a deep sense of connection and longing for co-creation. Being alone with our bodies makes us perceive that everything, inside and around, has not stopped, on the contrary it keeps existing in a dance of universal interconnection.
– Sofia Nappi

International choreographer and dancer from Italy, Sofia Nappi graduated from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York to then deepen her studies internationally. In her training the close contact with the Hofesh Shechter Dance Company and her studies of Gaga, language of the famous choreographer Ohad Naharin, play a fundamental role.
Sofia is artistic director and co-founder of KOMOCO, a dance company that toured Germany, USA, Italy, Holland, Israel, France, Albania, Spain, Canary Islands, Kosovo, Belgium and Hungary, making stops at many prestigious Italian and international festivals and platforms including La Biennale Di Venezia, The Albania Meeting Dance Festival, Romaeuropa, MASDANZA, the Colours International Dance Festival, Teatro del Canal Madrid.
She also continues her path as an independent choreographer creating works for internationally renowned dance companies such as the re-stage of Holelah, created at the Venice Biennale 2019 and presented again by the National Theater Mannheim in 2021; Tagadà at the Staatsoper Hannover (2023); Moving Cloud for the Scottish Dance Theatre and a special project with the Dutch national company Introdans (2023). For 2024, the Nederlands Dans Theater 2 has commissioned a new work from her.
At the same time she also works in the field of research and professional training at an international level (such as at Tisch – New York University, in the context of Micadanses at Le Carreau du Temple in Paris, Henny Jurriëns Studio in Amsterdam, Elephant in the Black Box and Danza180 in Madrid, Tanzpunkt Hannover, etc.) in close collaboration with the dancers of the KOMOCO company.

choreography: Sofia Nappi
choreographer assistant: Adriano Popolo Rubbio
dancers: Arthur Bouilliol, Leonardo de Santis, Glenda Gheller, India Guanzini, Paolo Piancastelli
costume designer: Luigi Formicola
costumes crafted by Silvia Salvaggio e Elisa Varvarito, thanks to the collaboration with Manifatture Digitali Cinema Prato di Fondazione Sistema Toscana
lights: Alessandro Caso
production: Sosta Palmizi, KOMOCO/Sofia Nappi
co-production: La Biennale di Venezia, COLOURS – International Dance Festival, Centro Coreográfico Canal Madrid
residency support: Orsolina 28, Centro di Residenza della Toscana (Fondazione Armunia Castiglioncello – CapoTrave/Kilowatt Sansepolcro), Opus Ballet Firenze, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Madrid
tour management: ecotopia dance productions
Selected for Bando Abitante/ Centro Nazionale di Produzione della Danza Virgilio Sieni e Fondazione CR Firenze
Thanks to PARC Performing Arts Research Centre, Firenze

Event in collaboration with Versiliadanza

The show is part of the Florence Art Week 2023 programme (September 28 – October 8).

photo: Maks Richter