LA PRIMA DANZA / THE FIRST DANCE is a site-specific contemporary dance project resulting from the collaboration between Fondazione Fabbrica Europa and Bigi Paoletti/Fritz Company by Damiano Ottavio Bigi and Alessandra Paoletti.

The project aims to transform spaces of historical and artistic heritage into devices for performative experiences articulated in different chapters, fostering a deep connection between territory, place, artwork, and audience through dance.

À COUPS DE MARTEAU / first step

La Prima Danza/À coups de marteau took place in Florence in September 2025 in the Cloister and Cenacolo of Ognissanti as part of the project Musica e danza nei Cenacoli fiorentini, funded by the Italian Ministry of Culture and carried out with Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Toscana of MiC.

On this occasion, Damiano Ottavio Bigi and Alessandra Paoletti directed an itinerant performance involving dancers from Hung Dance (Taiwan), Compagnia EgriBiancoDanza, and musicians from Centro di ricerca, produzione e didattica musicale Tempo Reale.

The performance takes shape as a ritual crossing through an architectural space understood not only as a physical site, but as a guide for the body and a symbolic map. A context in which architecture orients the body, at the same time reflecting an inner journey. The audience is invited to follow an itinerary in which moving through space coincides with a process of gradual withdrawal from the external world. The performance accompanies a transition from chaos and dispersion toward a condition of reflection, suspension, and listening, generating an “other” time – separate and suspended – in which to engage with oneself, with the memory of the place, and with one’s own presence.

Live music plays a structuring role: it does not accompany movement, but generates it, diverts it, and questions it. Sound and body enter into a constant dialogue, mutually influencing one another and adapting to the acoustics, history, and materiality of the space being traversed. What emerges is a spatial dramaturgy in which gesture, sound, and place intertwine in a collective experience.

Damiano Ottavio Bigi, dancer and choreographer, and Alessandra Paoletti, actress and director, began their collaboration in 2013 with the project Yuvaya Dönmek, Babam için – Back Home, to my father, conceived for the Istanbul Municipal Theatre. Since then, they have pursued both a pedagogical and creative path, collaborating with artists from diverse backgrounds and cultural contexts. In 2020, they founded their own company, the BIGI PAOLETTI Fritz Company.
Their work is born out of a dialogue among different languages, moving between dance, theatre and visual arts. Their research’s essential elements come from the exploration of compositional, dramaturgical, and kinesthetic patterns, often drawn from scientific disciplines. Through constantly evolving narrative layers, they aim to create worlds imprinted not only on bodies but also extending to the spaces and landscapes they move through, seeking new forms of relationship between body, space, and time.

La Prima Danza/À Coups De Marteau
as part of La Prima Danza, a site-specific dance project
A Fondazione Fabbrica Europa per le arti contemporanee production

choreography and direction: Damiano Ottavio Bigi & Alessandra Paoletti
dancers: Lu Ying-Chien, Lee Kuan-Lin / Hung Dance Taiwan, Vincenzo Criniti, Cristian Magurano / Compagnia EgriBiancoDanza, Yingyu Lyu
music: Milena Punzi, Andrea Geremia / Centro di ricerca, produzione e didattica musicale Tempo Reale
concept and project direction: Maurizia Settembri
production: Elisa Godani with Greta Poli
with the support of Ministero della Cultura, Dipartimento per le attività culturali – Italy
Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Toscana (Florence)

partners: Secret Florence | Florence Dance Festival | Comune di Firenze | CROSS Festival Verbania | Fondazione Egri Danza CRID | Hung Dance company Taiwan

foto: Giampaolo Becherini