The company

Choreography, education and raising awareness of the arts are the predominant activities of Essevesse Dance Company founded in 2013 in Marseille, France, by Antonino Ceresia. It is co-directed by two Sicilian choreographers and performers; Antonino himself and Fabio Dolce, who are driven by the desire of merging dance to society.

The balance between the creative process always in tension and the attention to the evolution of the contemporary world, occupies a significant place in their research. This guides them towards the unleashing of instinctive movements, which intrinsically linked to the emotions related to the world around them, become their own movement language. Their peculiarity comes about as a result of creating performances, both in urban / alternative contexts and in theatrical scenes, which gives voice to new forms of expression such as numerical art, experimental music, etc; at the same time re-evaluating the traditional arts such as classical music, painting and sculpture, forming their choreographic signature.

In doing so, they wish to involve a vast and diversified audience, making them aware of the importance of being, on the one hand, in step with the progress of the arts, and on the other of appreciating, at the same time, the artistic heritage that surrounds us. Alongside their thirst for choreographic experimentation stimulated by continuous technological progress, Fabio and Antonino hold a privileged place for gesture and movement poetry.

Simultaneously the two choreographers built up a laboratory where they develop approaches for self-empowerment and social inclusion, using body expression as a non-formal education tool. They continuously aim to reach as many people as possible with their practice via European projects that allow them to cooperate with partners all over Europe, with various profiles, in order to share each other’s experience and work together towards a better world.

The choreographers

FABIO DOLCE

Fabio trained at the Academy of Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the National Dance Academy in Rome and the National Dance Academy of Rosella Hightower in Cannes. He started his international career in Italy joining the Corps de Ballet of Teatro Massimo and the Corps de ballet of Teatro Politeama in Palermo and Astra Roma Ballet company in Rome. He continued in France with Cannes Jeune Ballet , CCN Ballet de Lorraine and CHATHA dance company, and ended up in the UK with Shobana Jeyasingh, De Nada Dance Theater and Edifice Dance Theater. After dancing master pieces in the choreographic world by the most renowned choreographers, such as William Forsythe and Merce Cunningham or Mathilde Monnier and Maria La Ribot, he currently is pursuing his career as a freelance artist and performer, collaborating with other artists developing his creative and pedagogical skills while working with amateurs, schools, dance/ drama conservatoires, community centres, and professional dance companies as well as with people suffering from physical and mental disabilities.

ANTONINO CERESIA

Antonino trained at the Academy of Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the National Dance Academy of Rosella Hightower in Cannes. He started his international career in Italy with the Corps de ballet of Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia and the Maggio Fiorentino in Florence. He pursued in France at the Cannes Jeune Ballet, the Bordeaux Opera House, the Nice Opera House and the Ballet d’Europe, dancing for Monique Loudieres, Jean Charles Gil, Kelemenis and others. Being the founder of Cie Essevesse, Antonino’s choreographies have been chosen to be shown among international dance festivals such as Cannes Dance Festival, 31st Hannover festival, Onze Bouge in Paris and others. He studied the pedagogy of dance in France and obtained his diploma in ballet and contemporary dance, which allowed him to enhance his skills serving education and raising awareness of arts working with many schools and community centres. Antonino has been in charge of the ‘Raising Awareness of Dance’ program at the Marseille Opera House for more than ten years.

La Commedia Divina #like4like

The artists wish to deliver their interpretation of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. They aim to create a performance expressing the complexity of the relationship between the author, artwork and its audience, using choreography, music and visual art. Intrigued by the structure of the book and the use of the language, while considering the historical context rather than its narrative, they base their work on the parallels between Dante, who writes about his era by putting himself as the main character, and their desire to speak about modern day society using their bodies and dancing themselves. The roles of Dante, Virgil and Beatrice are exchanged among the actors on stage questioning the social context, using their skills in contemporary, commercial and ballet dance.

Inspired by the book of which has three chapters, the choreographers want to create a piece in three parts:

#duointention This is a moment structured around the ‘transition’. As Dante addresses the transition from life to death in his book, Antonino and Fabio wish to work on the transition between an existing choreographic piece and its new interpretation.

#duodivin: This is a duet that highlights the relationship between Dante Alighieri and his work at the moment where he was actually writing it, and the one when he delivered it to the audience. Fabio interprets both Dante, the writer and Virgil, the guide, in the role of the partner supporting Antonino, who on pointe-shoes, interprets the work itself, Dante the character and Beatrice with her ethereal presence.

#duohandmade : The choreographers thought of staging a piece of Visual Art to emphasize the importance of the hands and the contact in their choreographic language, echoing the importance of calligraphy at the time when Dante wrote his comedy, to which they collaborated with French Artist, Nicolas Clauss.

Awareness actions

Young people and body expression

Since 2013, the company has been committed to carry out raising awareness and education with more than 2300 students, from schools predominantly in the Aix-Marseille metropolitan area but also in Europe. Currently Essevesse is involved in structures such as the Marseille Opera House and DEMOS in collaboration with the Philharmonie de Paris in France, La Casa del Sorriso in Italy, Oaklands School in London. Students participate in workshops with professional dancers and usually create a performance, which is presented at the end of the year on different professional stages.

European projects

ERASMUS PLUS in strategic partnership

–KA1 Act-no-ReacT! en partenariat avec Check-In (Portugal), CEIPES (Italie), ASPAYM (Espagne), IASD (Pologne), AICSCC – GAMMA Institute (Roumanie), Euni Partners (Bulgarie) en 2020.

–KA2 Lifelong Dancing in partnership with ASPAYM (Spain), CEIPES (Italy), AICSCC (Romania), Euni Partners (Bulgaria), in 2019 and 2020.

–KA2 Dance Against Bullying in partnership with The Smile of the Child (Greece), CEIPES (Italy), AICSCC (Romania), Euni Partners (Bulgaria), in 2019, 2020 and 2021.