Sofia Nappi, choreographer and artistic director of KOMOCO, in residency at PARC with her creation CHORA – The Void as Origin.

“CHORA” (from the Ancient Greek χώρα – meaning “space,” but also a generative emptiness, a womb-like ground of origin) is rooted in the idea that emptiness is not absence, but beginning. It is a space that exists before form – a living container, a fertile silence from which everything emerges.

Here, emptiness is primordial. It exists before movement, before language, before identity. It is the first condition – the place where everything begins. CHORA invites us to return to that beginning, to listen to what exists before meaning, and to recognize that we are formed not only by what we do, but also by the spaces within us, the silences we carry, and the unseen forces that surround us.

Emptiness here is not hollow; it is charged with possibility – like the air before a storm, the stillness before a breath, the silence in nature before dawn, a blank page before writing, or the pause between heartbeats. Space itself becomes presence: in the pauses, the silences, the spaces between us, lives something greater. A field of creation. A source we return to every time we exhale, every time we yield to gravity. In this pace, we don’t just move – we remember. Space becomes a partner, holding memory, tension, and potential.

The new dance piece CHORA by Sofia Nappi and her company KOMOCO explores emptiness as a tangible presence – around us, between us, and inside us – continuing one of KOMOCO’s fundamental fields of research.
Emptiness is approached through listening: beginning with the forces of breath and gravity, allowing space to move us as much as we move through it. From this listening, rhythm appears.
Fragile gestures grow into larger volumes. Small pauses expand into collective flow. What seemed empty reveals itself as charged with life, connection, and story.

Sofia Nappi is choreographer and artistic director of KOMOCO, a contemporary dance company based in Italy and active internationally, that she co-founded alongside her first muses, Adriano Popolo Rubbio and Paolo Piancastelli. Right from the start, Sofia’s early creations with KOMOCO have won prestigious awards: the Partner Introdans Award (Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition 2021) and the 1st Prize, Critics’ Award, and Production Award at the 35th International Choreography Competition Hannover from the Tanja Liedtke Foundation and Marco Goecke (2021).
Currently KOMOCO’s works, choreographed by Sofia, are presented in Italy and internationally, with tours across Europe as well as Mexico, Canada, and Serbia, hosted by international institutions and festivals such as La Biennale di Venezia, The Albania Meeting Dance Festival, RomaEuropa Festival, MASDANZA, The Colors International Dance Festival, Teatros del Canal and Madrid en Danza, Danse Danse (Montreal), Belgrade Dance Festival.

choreography: Sofia Nappi
in collaboration with the Komoco dancers Bonni Bogya, Arthur Bouilliol, Glenda Gheller, India Guanzini, Sem Houmes, Paolo Piancastelli, Senne Reus
choreographer assistant: Adriano Popolo Rubbio
original music and sound design: Ciaran Morahan
additional music by Alessandro Cortini and others mixed by Ciaran Morahan
light design: Alessandro Caso
costume design: Adriano Popolo Rubbio
costumes crafted by Adriano Popolo Rubbio, Adelaide D’Ago
production management: Giulia Pasquini, Claudia Bauer
production: KOMOCO
co-production: Theater Winterthur, Romaeuropa Festival, COLOURS International Dance Festival, Oriente Occidente
in collaboration with ecotopia dance productions
residency support: Oriente Occidente, Inteatro residenze, Fabbrica Europa / PARC Florence
with the contribution of MiC Italian Ministry of Culture

photo: Jeanette Back