as part of the Fabbrica Europa 2026 festival

Ikar by Aura Calarco and Stefania Menestrina begins as a flight of attempts: three minutes for each act of approach. Each fragment is a potential encounter, just before definition takes hold.

No single reason is truer than another; no intention is higher or more righteous. Everything exists in movement, in a continuous process of seeking one another without ever becoming defined.

Ikar is an opportunity: a journey of listening, where even failure is part of the relationship.
An act of courage that renews itself.

After a shared journey as performers, Aura Calarco and Stefania Menestrina discovered a strong artistic affinity.
Working closely and sharing creative processes with leading choreographers fueled in both of them a desire to explore an authorial dimension. After their first separate choreographic experiments, they officially began collaborating in 2023.
Their first works saw them involved in each other’s projects as performers/artistic collaborators: OTOTEMAN won the 2022 Prospettiva Danza Teatro
International Award and was selected for the 2023 Showcase of Young Authorial Dance – Anticorpi XL Network. Gea Culpa was a finalist for the 2023 Twain Prize and won the 2024 Theodor Rawlyer Prize. La luna sui nossi monti won the 2024 Twain_Direzioni Altre
Prize.
In 2025, they were selected for Anghiari Dance Hub with the project IKAR, voliamo altissimo, their first co-created project in which they both perform.

concept and performance: Aura Calarco, Stefania Menestrina
lighting design: Leonardo Bertucci, Silvia Parolini, Andrea Palumbo, Tullia Ruggeri
music: various artists
production: Anghiari Dance Hub
co-production: COB Compagnia Opus Ballet
with the support of Kommtanz Abbondanza|Bertoni and Sosta Palmizi

photo (detail): Luca Del Pia