as part of The First Dance / La Prima Danza
a site-specific contemporary dance project
funded by the 2025 Kore.A.Round Culture – Bilateral International Collaboration Program for Arts & Culture

THE PROJECT

The First Dance / La prima danza is a site-specific contemporary dance project, the result of a collaboration between Fondazione Fabbrica Europa and Ahn Aesoon Company, one of the leading choreographic groups in Korea.

At its core lies the encounter between two worldviews and spatial conceptions, profound yet distant from one another: the Italian Renaissance and traditional Korean architecture. Conceived to come to life in emblematic locations, the choreographic project establishes a dialogue between two cultures that, though separated by geography and history, both transcend the mere construction of physical structures to create true symbolic universes, each with its own grammar of forms, proportions, and spirituality.

The research is grounded in the principles that govern these two worlds, building a movement language that evolves from abstract themes into body, breath, and rhythm. In this process, the relationship between body and space becomes central: the dancers do not simply inhabit the environment but engage in a physical and perceptual dialogue with it. Their bodies either merge with the architecture or emerge in contrast to it, activating the space as a living, participating element. Thus, physical space transforms into a sensitive landscape, crossed by emotional and perceptual resonances.

A first phase of research, LA PRIMA DANZA à coups de marteau – 1st step, took place in September 2025 in Florence, at the Cloister and Cenacolo di Ognissanti. Here, choreographer and dancer Damiano Ottavio Bigi and dramaturg and director Alessandra Paoletti created a site-specific performance with dancers Vincenzo Criniti and Cristian Magurano from Compagnia EgriBiancoDanza; performers Lu Ying-Chieh, Lee Kuan-Lin, Yingyu Lyu, and choreographer Lai Hung-Chung from Hung Dance (Taiwan); and musicians Milena Punzi and Andrea Geremia from the Centro di ricerca, produzione e didattica musicale Tempo Reale.

THE BUTTERFLY DREAM | Seoul

First Dance stems from the idea of transforming heritage into a platform for artistic experiences that foster a deeper connection between artworks and audiences, using dance and the performing arts as a language that is at once evocative and innovative.

In Seoul, Damiano Ottavio Bigi and Alessandra Paoletti, together with Korean choreographer Ahn Aesoon, work with dancers Na-eui Kim, Ji-hyung Kim, Seong-hyeon Park, Hyeon-seok Lee, You-joung Lim, and Joung-youn Son on a site-specific creation taking place at Nakseonjae Hall in the Changdeokgung Palace.
Nakseonjae Hall at Changdeokgung Palace was the final residence of the Joseon royal family, a place where the body of an age lingered at the threshold between an old order and a new era.
Now, with The Butterfly Dream, new bodies enter.
They create a field where reality and illusion meet beyond yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Dreams map a borderless world, making the invisible visible.
Movement crosses spatial boundaries, walks with the wind, lingers in the air.
Even after the dance departs and dreams clear, we cannot say which side of the threshold we stand on.

Artists from distinct cultural trajectories, Ahn Aesoon and Damiano Ottavio Bigi and Alessandra Paoletti shape a shared language of movement, taking this historic site as physical memory.
This co-production commemorating the 140th anniversary of Korea–Italy relations (2024–25) brings two traditions into dialogue: Korean space that breathes with nature through void and interval, Italian architecture that seeks harmony through symmetry and proportion.
The body becomes passage and question, a place to explore existence beyond form.

After Korea, this artistic dialogue will continue in June 2026 with new site-specific performances in Italy – in Florence, Verbania, and Cagliari, where the historical and architectural caracteristics of each place are expected to add new layers to the work.

Bigi Paoletti Fritz Company is an artistic project and dance-theatre company founded in 2020 by dancer and choreographer Damiano Ottavio Bigi – a longstanding member of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and performer with Dimitris Papailioannou – alongside actress and director Alessandra Paoletti, a graduate of the National Academy of Drama “Silvio D’Amico” who has also worked extensively as a guest director for the Istanbul Municipal Theatre. Their collaboration began in Istanbul in 2013 with Yuvaya Dönmek, Babam için – Back Home, to My Father, created for the Istanbul Municipal Theatre. Since then, they have developed both pedagogical and creative projects, engaging with artists from diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds.
Their work explores a dialogue between different languages, traversing dance, theatre, and visual arts, and has been presented internationally at major venues and festivals, including Torinodanza Festival, Festival Equilibrio, One Dance Festival, Tanec Praha, Fabbrica Europa, Gdansk Dance Festival, Aerowaves Dance Festival Luxembourg, Le Chaînon Manquant, Le Temps d’aimer, Istanbul Municipal Theatre, Gorizia Dance Festival, Teatro Grande (Brescia), Visavì Gorizia, Nid Platform 2022/2023/2024, Bengaluru Hubba Festival, Serendipity Arts Festival (Goa), Living Dance Festival (China), LDTX Beijing Festival, ACT-Shanghai Contemporary Theatre Festival, and the Asia-Europe Cultural Festival (ASEF).

Ahn Aesoon Company uniquely merges Korean identity with contemporary sensibilities. Since its founding in 1985, Ahn Aesoon has developed a distinctive choreographic style by reinterpreting the Eastern traditions and concepts through contemporary dance. Her work, marked by dynamic movement, refined rhythm, and distinctive spatial composition, has positioned her at the forefront of Korean contemporary dance.
Following her 1998 Grand Prix at the Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Bagnolet, Ahn has been invited to major festivals in Germany, Singapore, Mexico, and Japan, and is documented in the Oxford Dictionary of Dance and International Dictionary of Modern
Dance. Through collaborations across film, theater, and visual arts, she continues to expand contemporary dance expression. Having served as artistic director of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival(SPAF) and Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, Ahn remains central to Korea’s performing arts landscape. Having established an independent position for Korean contemporary dance on the international stage, Ahn seeks new choreographic possibilities that transcend cultural boundaries through this project.
Choreographer Ahn Aesoon has built a distinctive artistic world over 40 years by translating traditional Korean concepts such as play, shamanism, and kokdu into the language of contemporary dance. Moving beyond the reinterpretation of traditional movements, she has explored Korean corporeal aesthetics and sensibility, developing a unique choreographic language where improvisational playfulness meets refined spatial awareness. Having established an independent position for Korean contemporary dance on the international stage, Ahn seeks new choreographic possibilities that transcend cultural boundaries through this project.

concept and project direction: Maurizia Settembri
production management: On Sim – Korea, Elisa Godani – Italy
associate producer: Hye-yeon Kim
international collaboration advisor: Andrea Paciotto
sound design: Jung-hoon Pi
sound operation: Ju-won Jeon
costume design: Seonoc Im
stage manager: Eun-jin Jo

production and presentation: Fabbrica Europa, Ahn Aesoon Company

sponsors: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, KOFICE (Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange), 2025 Korea•A•Round Culture, MiC Italian Ministry of Culture

partners: Fabbrica Europa | Secret Florence | Florence Dance Festival | City of Florence
CROSS Festival | Fondazione Egri Danza CRID | City of Verbania
Associazione Tersicorea – Cortoindanza | City of Cagliari