After the launch of the new format DAN+Z (Dance+Jazz) last year, starring Gianluca Petrella and Luisa Cortesi, Daniele Ninarello and Dan Kinzelman, Simone Graziano and Vittoria De Ferrari Sapetto, Fabbrica Europa hosts a production that Novara Jazz created together with Balletto di Roma from a point of view of a strong multidisciplinary power that opens the respective practices to new directions and new audience communities.

In the centre of this new project phase there are three artists: a very young choreographer and dancer of the Balletto di Roma Roberta Racis, the guitar-player Francesco Diodati and the drummer Ermanno Baron.

Born in Cagliari in 1990, Roberta Racis commenced her study of classical and contemporary dance in her Sardinian hometown, before completing her training in mainland Italy, Portugal and Belgium. Having perfected her studies at Balletto di Toscana, Florence, where she performed Tiziana Bolfe Briaschi’s La quiete apparente (finalist of the Premio Equilibrio 2015) as part of Prove d’Autore initiative of Anticorpi XL network, she was chosen for an internship at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the direction of Davide Bombana and participated in the College Danza Biennale under the direction of Virgilio Sieni as performer of Cristina Rizzo’s Bolero Variations. In Portugal she performed in Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo’s production of Vasco Wellenkamp’s Fado, a co-production by CPBC and Internationaal Danstheater (The Netherlands) ranked by Dance Europe magazine as one of the best productions of 2013. Moving to Belgium, she widened the scope of her contemporary ballet training at La Raffinerie/Charleroi Danse and DansCentrum Jette directed by Roxane Huilmand. Roberta Racis has worked with numerous choreographers including Nicholas Rowe, Amanda Xue Hai, Sandra Anais, Goran Bogdanovski and Natalia Vallebona. In July 2015 she performed together with Fabio Novembrini as one of the ‘dance-writers’ of Dance Raids Feltre for Operaestate Festival Veneto and their performance SHELTER was included in the Vetrina GD’A showcase in Ravenna in September 2016. She has been a member of Balletto di Roma since November 2015.

Inspired by tradition, but nevertheless open to the new ideas of contemporary music, rock and folk, Francesco Diodati has developed a personal guitar style which combines a spontaneous approach to melody with an acoustic sound enhanced by a brilliant use of electronics and effects.As leader of Neko, whose other members are Francesco Bigoni, Carlo Conti, Francesco Ponticelli and Ermanno Baron, he has recorded two albums for AUAND Records, and since 2014 he has been a member of the New Quartet, led by trumpeter Enrico Rava, with whom he also plays in duo. Since 2010, he has performed in numerous concerts throughout Europe and Asia as a member of the ambitious MyanmarMeetsEurope project, an initiative focusing on the fusion of European and Birman music, led by German composer and double bassist Tim Isfort and supported by the Goethe Institute. Since 2013, he has collaborated on a regular basis with southern Italian singer-songwriter Erica Mou. He has played at both national and international level as part of the Marcello Allulli Trio, the Franco-Italian Travelers led by Matteo Bortone, Abhra led by Julian Pontvianne, Bobby Previte Plutino, various ensembles led by Roman singer Ada Montellanico, Contemporary Five led by Gaetano Partipilo and a group led by Simona Severini. In 2013 and 2014 he was voted Guitarist of the Year by the readers of JazzIt music magazine.

Ermanno Baron is a musician with a multifaceted artistic training who combines the freshness and creativity of jazz with the sensitivity of the experimentation in contemporary electroacoustic improvisation. He is a permanent and creative member of Marcello Allulli Trio MAT, Francesco Diodati “Neko”, Ada Montellanico Abbey’s road, Francesco Negro trio, Ludovica Manzo “Scraps”, Bee Brain, Colonna Baron duo, Auanders. He is the creator of ACRE, electroacoustic improvisation ensemble. His particular interpretation of the instrument has led him to play in many national and international concerts: Smalls, Blue Note, Barbes, Fat Cat (New York), Jazz and World music festival (Zimbabwe), Jazz-Pt (Portugal), Tremplin Jazz Avignon (France), 12 Points (Ireland), Ankara Caz (Turkey), Visual Jazz, Roma Jazz Fest, Young Jazz in Town, Casa Del Jazz, Crossroads, Auditorium Parco Della Musica, Pescara Jazz, Internet Festival, Bari Expo, Atina Jazz, Gezziamoci, Veneto Jazz, Sudtirol Jazz Fest, Vicenza Jazz (Italy) etc. In the academic field he studied percussion with Maestro Giordano Rebecchi and joined his contemporary music ensemble, playing Edgar Varese, Henry Dixon Cowell, Steve Reich etc. Baron graduated in Siena at International Jazz Master (INJAM) where he met some of the greatest international jazz musicians, including Billy Hart, Eric Harland, Jeff Ballard, Kenny Werner, Tim Berne, Franco D’Andrea, Marc Ducret. Among his collaborations: Antonello Salis, Frank Tiberi, Marcello Allulli, David Binney, Ada Montellanico, Gianni Gebbia, Giovanni Falzone, Francesco Bearzatti, Shane Endsley, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Ohad Talmor, Brad Shepik, Fabrizio Bosso, Francesco Diodati, Francesco Bigoni, Francesco Negro, Enrico Zanisi, Gianni Trovalusci, Marco Bonini, Marco Colonna, Henry Cook, Ludovica Manzo, Ginomaria Boschi, Silvia Bolognesi, Achille Succi, Danilo Gallo, Luca Venitucci, Beppe Scardino, Elio Martusciello, Carlo Conti, Dan Kinzelman, Javier Moreno Sanchez, Alipio Carvahlo Neto.

choreography and performance: Roberta Racis
live music: Francesco Diodati, Ermanno Baron
idea conceived by Enrico Bettinello
production: Balletto di Roma
in collaboration with Novara Jazz