The first dance / La prima danza is a site-specific contemporary dance project, funded by the 2025 Kore.A.Round Culture – Bilateral International Collaboration Program for Arts & Culture. The project aims to explore new performative languages for cultural heritage sites, redefining them as vibrant and dynamic spaces capable of bridging memory and contemporaneity.

A collaboration between Fondazione Fabbrica Europa and Ahn Aesoon Company, one of the leading choreographic groups in Korea, the project 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.

The first phase of the project will take place between September and October 2025 in Seoul, where Italian artists Damiano Ottavio Bigi, choreographer and dancer, and Alessandra Paoletti, dramaturge and director, will work with local dancers, with the support of choreographer Ahn Aesoon, to develop a creation that will be presented in an evocative site of Korean cultural heritage, the Nakseonjae Pavilion within the Changdeokgung Palace complex.

Nakseonjae, a palace from the late Joseon dynasty, epitomizes the essence of traditional Korean architecture. In this space, the performers will interact with the structural feature of the building to create a new artistic dialogue.
The performance will respond to the structural characteristics of Nakseonjae – its sequence of entrances, gardens, and pavilions – reinterpreting the geometric forms and organic curves through the language of the body.

The second phase of The first dance / La prima danza will take place in Italy in June 2026, with site-specific performances in heritage sites, whose historical and architectural will add new layers of meaning and inspiration.