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Roberto Zappalà

Roberto Zappalà is the artistic director and main choreographer of Compagnia Zappalà Danza, which he founded in 1989. The company is today one of the most important Italian dance companies, regularly supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture since 1996 and by the Region of Sicily.
In 22 years of activity of the company, Roberto Zappalà has created more than 30 choreographies, presented all over Europe and in Centre and South America, MiddleEast, SouthAfrica. For his creations, the choreographer often deals with articulated projects, some of them: “Corpi incompiuti” (2002-2007), “Instruments” (2007-2009), “re-mapping sicily” (started in 2007, it is still part of the choreographer’s work). Among his creations for the company, “Pasolini nell’era di Internet” selected for BIG Torino 2000, and “A.semu tutti devoti tutti?” which has been awarded with the Danza&Danza Prize 2010 best italian production. Furthermore, one of his latest creations LA NONA (from chaos, the body), received the Danza&Danza 2015 Award Best Italian Production.
Compagnia Zappalà Danza distinguish itself for the availability of a wide and articulated repertory, result of the synergistic and prolific work of Roberto Zappalà and the dramaturgue Nello Calabrò, who traced together in the last ten years a projectual path in continous expansion, allowing the realization of productions of different typology, most of them with live music.
Zappalà also collaborates with other companies, he produced creations for Balletto di Toscana, the Scuola di Ballo of the Teatro alla Scala of Milano, the Swedish company Norrdans, the Stichting Theaterwerkplaats Generale Oost (NL). He recently worked with the Goteborg Ballet in Sweden, which commissioned the choreographer the new creation “sud-virus”, premièred in October 2011 at the Goteborg Opera with live music.
He left his original and contemporary creative sign in particular editions of the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita produced by the Teatro della Munizione, and he often collaborated with Opera directors such as Daniele Abbado and Federico Tiezzi, and with several composers and musicians from the european landscape, among them Giovanni Sollima, Paolo Fresu, Fabio Vacchi, Rosalba Bentivoglio, Nello Toscano, Puccio Castrogiovanni, Alfio Antico, Gianluigi Trovesi, Piero Sammataro, Vincenzo Pirrotta.
Zappalà dedicated himself to the transmission of his personal choreographic language through workshops held all over Italy and Europe and he has been often invited by the University of Catania to hold workshops on the body’s and performances’ languages . In 2009 Roberto Zappalà started the project “atelier a domicilio – laboratori e creazioni su misura per giovani danzatori” [workshops and creations made to measure for young dancers], in collaboration with other european institutions like ArtEZ Dansacademie (NL) and Fondazione Nazionale della Danza/Aterballetto.
The choreographer also deals with installations, and he produced together with Christian Graupner/Humatic (Berlin) the interactive installation “MindBox”, which has been presented all over the world and which won the second prize at the Guthman Musical Instrument competition (Atlanta/USA 2011).
Roberto Zappalà is responsible for the conception and restoration as well as the artistic director of Scenario Pubblico international choreographic centre Sicily, opened in 2002, residence of the Compagnia Zappalà Danza and rare example of european choreographic centre in Italy. The new location has allowed the company and the choreographer to extend and to deepen their choreographic research, and to leave a sign also in the formative field, creating MoDem/ codici gestuali compagnia zappalà danza, a structure promoting the spread of the company’s language.
On November 2013 he received the "National Association of Drama Critics" Award.