The company

The company Essevesse was founded by Antonino Ceresia in 2013 in Marseille. In 2018, Fabio Dolce joined the association in the role of co-director. The two Sicilian artists came together to combine their knowledge and their artistic visions to develop the two main axes of the company: creation and education / awareness.

With their team, they transmit their point of view on the social issues that are important to them, which find an echo in their projects. Their vision draws them into a perpetual search for instinctive movement, characterized by an important contact between bodies, which, linked with other art forms, creates their choreographic signature.

Fabio and Antonino encourage the coexistence between new forms of arts (digital art, experimental music…) and traditional arts (classical music, painting…) in an alternative or classical performing space, in order to reach a large and diverse audience, raising the spectators' awareness on staying tuned to the progress of the arts while revisiting the artistic heritage. The search for the poetry of the gesture has a primordial place in the work of the two choreographers.

At the same time, the company is committed to an educative dance awareness action at a local and European level. Fabio and Antonino participate in an in-depth research aimed at developing the use of dance as a tool for non-formal education, social inclusion and personal development thanks to the support of the European program ERASMUS PLUS.

The choreographers

FABIO DOLCE

Trained at the Massimo Theater in Palermo, the National Dance Academy in Rome and the National Dance Academy by Rosella Hightower in Cannes, he first joined the Corps de Ballet of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, that of the Teatro Politeama and the company Astra Roma Ballet in Italy and then Cannes Jeune Ballet and CCN Ballet de Lorraine in France. He is currently pursuing an international freelance dance career between England and France with Shobana Jeyasingh, De Nada Dance Theater, Edifice Dance Theater and CHATA. Simultaneously, he collaborates with other artists as a creator and he develops his teaching skills with amateurs, schools, dance and theater conservatories, social centers, and professional dance companies as well as with people suffering from physical and mental handicaps.

ANTONINO CERESIA

Founder of Cie Essevesse, Antonino trained as a dancer at the Massimo Theater in Palermo and at the Rosella Hightower School of Dance in Cannes. He joined the corps de ballet of the Massimo Theater in Palermo, the Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia and the Maggio Fiorentino in Florence. He pursued his career in France at the Cannes Jeune Ballet, the Bordeaux Opera, the Nice Opera, and the European Ballet. His attraction for creation is revealed at Cannes Jeune Ballet, under the direction of Monique Loudières. Since then, he has not stopped building scenic moments being a glimpse of the human being while considering his condition and his relationship to the other and to the world. His creations are among the international dance festivals (Cannes Dance Festival, 31 Hannover festival, Onze Bouge in Paris…). At the same time, he is developing his skills in the service of education and awareness-raising as a means of transmission and integration.

La Commedia Divina, #like4like

The artists wish to take a look at La Comédie de Dante. They aspire to a performative moment expressing the complexity of the relationship between a work, its author and its audience, using choreography, music and visual art. Intrigued by the construction and use of the text, more than by its narration, they are based on the parallel between Dante, who writes on his time by placing himself as the main character, and the desire to tell Today in turn by dancing. The roles of Dante, Virgile and Béatrice are exchanged on stage questioning the themes that are dear to their hearts, using their knowledge of contemporary, commercial and classical dance (in particular with the latest technique).

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

#duointention : It is a performance structured around the "passage". As Dante addresses the transition from life to death in his three chapters, Antonino and Fabio wish to work on the transition between an already existing choreographic piece and its new interpretation.

#duodivin : C’est un duo qui met en valeur la relation entre Dante Alighieri et son œuvre au moment de l’écriture et au moment du partage avec le public. Fabio interprète à la fois Dante l’écrivant et Virgile le guide dans le rôle du partenaire supportant Antonino qui, sur pointes, interprète à la fois l’œuvre même, Dante le personnage ou encore Beatrice avec sa présence éthérée.

#duohandmade : The choreographers thought of giving voice to the visual art to emphasize the importance of working with their hands in their choreographic language, echoing the importance of calligraphy at the time when Dante wrote his comedy. They collaborate with the artist Nicola Clauss, and they want to put the body at the service of video to give strength to their message.

Awareness actions

Young people and body expression

Since 2013, the company has been committed to carrying out awareness-raising and transmission work with more than 2,300 students belonging to schools in the Aix-Marseille metropolitan area and in Europe. Currently, they are involved in structures such as the Marseille Opera 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 produce a work which will be presented at the end of the year on different professional stages.

European projects

ERASMUS PLUS in strategic partnership

-KA1 Act-no-ReacT! in partnership with Gamma Institut (Romania) for the year 2020.

-KA2 Lifelong Dancing, learning pathways about dance for adult education, in partnership with Fundacion Aspaym Castilla y Léon (Spain), CEIPES (Italy), AICSCC (Romania), Eunipartners (Bulgaria), for the year 2019 and 2020.

-KA2 Dance Against Bullying, in partnership with The Smile of the Child (Greece), CEIPES (Italy), Gamma Institut (Romania), Eunipartners (Bulgaria), for the year 2019, 2020 and 2021.