Team

Name: Soirée Danses-en-Trans au Théâtre du Hangart de Marseille
Start: 2025-05-17T19:30:00+02:00
End: 2025-05-17T22:00:00+02:00
Location: Théâtre du Hangart

The Essevesse dance company has been based in Marseille since 2013.
It is directed by Sicilian artist-choreographers Antonino CERESIA and Fabio DOLCE.

about us

Fabio & Antonino now co-direct the Cie Essevesse. The two friends met 20 years ago backstage at Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, before embarking on a demanding career as repertory dancers and choreographers throughout the world. Drawing on their experience of working with internationally renowned choreographers, they combine their visions and shape their artistic approach.

A friendship that nourishes a dance committed to three axes :

the revaluation of the dancing body with a meticulous and technical style ;
the enhancement of the artistic heritage that inspires all their creative work;
a political commitment, through their attention to social change on stage and in their socio-cultural projects, driven by a dance that is accessible to all and promotes living together.

Within Essevesse, Fabio and Antonino also cover the role of choreographers, dancers/performers, dance teachers (classical, contemporary, improvisation), art/dance therapists, artistic mediators for EAC (artistic and cultural education), coordinators of European key action 2 projects, researchers and trainers in the development of non-formal education through the use of the arts, in collaboration with professionals from various backgrounds.

WHY Essevesse ?

Antonino created the company in 2013 and chose its name EsseVessE, after the title of his first piece he made for the Cannes Jeune Ballet: Sève de l’essence.

In the search for a palindrome name that could contain the energy of the two words: sap (sève) and essence (essence), “EssevessE” hatched, with the V playing the role of mirror between the EssE.

Fabio joined the codirection in 2018.

“I invite you to contemplate the poetry you may encounter, to give way to emotion.

The ‘poetic’ has a fundamental role to play for human beings, abandoning ourselves to incomprehension reveals one of the most beautiful conditions of our nature: ‘to feel”.

Fabio

“Dancing, a bridge between a game and a thought, a gesture in the palm of the hand, a step that moves to the sound of a story that speaks of an infinity lodged in a fragment… I carry Dance with these words, and I go beyond, towards unknown lands…”

Antonino

AWARENESS & RESEARCH

Fascinated by dance and all it has to offer, Fabio and Antonino are conducting research into how it can be used to enhance well-being, both with oneself and in society.

With over 15 years’ experience in artistic mediation, degrees in dance teaching and certification as art/dance therapists, the two artists are actively involved in democratising dance at local and international level. This is achieved through projects that reach out to specific audiences, such as minorities or people living in disadvantaged situations, or to all audiences, including children, young people, adults and senior citizens.

Our projects are supported by local and European institutions such as the City of Marseille, the Département 13, the Région Sud and the Erasmus+ programme.

In order to increase the impact of dance on European society, Fabio and Antonino are looking for a language accessible to anyone in order to hand over this art, especially for people working in the social field, with groups. They are therefore creating training courses for all professionals working in the fields of mental and physical health and social interaction.

Our team MEMBERS

The Essevesse Dance Comoany is an association under the law of 1901, which has brought together thousands of people over the years of its existence, between performances, installations, artist residencies, educational initiatives, workshops, therapeutic sessions, artistic and cultural collaborations, festivals, and so on.

The two project leaders are Antonino CERESIA and Fabio DOLCE, but this would not be possible without the help of all our staff and volunteers who are committed to our work.

The Compagnie Essevesse team also includes other artists and technicians who work with us on a casual basis. More than 30 casual workers have supported our projects to date.

A big THANK YOU to you all!

Antonino Ceresia

Antonino trained as a dancer at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and at the Rosella Hightower National Dance Accademy in Cannes.

He began his career in Italy with the corps de ballet of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence.

In 2002, he chose to pursue his career in France, with the Cannes Jeune Ballet, the Opéra de Bordeaux, the Opéra de Nice and the Ballet d’Europe. He has danced with Eleonora Abbagnato, Oksana Kucheruk, Alessandro Riga and Monique Loudières. He has performed in a wide range of works by choreographers including Roland Petit, Carolyn Carlson, Marc Ribaud, Mauro Bigonzetti, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Kelemenis and Giorgio Mancini.

He began experimenting with choreography at a very young age. His creations have taken part in several international competitions: Premio Equilibrio-Rome programmed by Sidi Larbi Sherkaoui, Les Synodales in Sens, the Hanover competition, No-Ballet, T.OFF and others.

For the last thirteen years, he has also been responsible for widening access to opera at the Opéra de Marseille. His work with the Opéra de Marseille and the French Ministry of Education, as well as with organisations such as the Fondation d’Auteuil and the Demos project, enables Antonino to put dance at the service of a social cause by making this art form accessible to minorities (desavantaged young people, people with disabilities, marginalised people, etc.).

Fabio Dolce

Fabio trained at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the National Academy of Dance in Rome and the Rosella Hightower National Dance Academy in Cannes.

He continued his international career, dancing for companies in Italy, France and England, including the corps du ballet of Teatro Massimo and Teatro Politeama, Astra Roma Ballet, Cannes Jeune Ballet, CCN Ballet de Lorraine, De Nada Dance Theatre, Jeyasingh Dance Company, Edifice Dance Théâtre, CHATHA.

He has had the privilege of dancing pieces by : Rudolf Nureev, William Forsythe, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, Emanuel Gat, Jean Christophe Maillot, Carolin Carlson, Andonis Foniadakis, Matilde Monnier, La Ribot, Joëlle Bouvier, Alban Richard and many others. He dances solo roles on stages such as the Teatro Sistina in Rome, as well as the Théâtre de la Ville, Théâtre Chaillot and Théâtre Châtelet in Paris. He has also performed at Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Opera House in London, the NCPA Opera House in Beijing, the KVS in Brussels, and many others.

Alongside his career as a dancer, Fabio works with young actors at the Salle Blanche in Paris. He has worked at the Saint Barnabé clinic in Marseille (in addictology) and was in charge of the socio-cultural action of the CCN Ballet de Lorraine for 6 years (working with people suffering from pathologies such as anorexia, bulimia, deafness, Alzheimer’s and marginalised young people). He has also taught master calsses for companies such as Ballet Boyz, Jeyasingh Dance Company, Edifice Dance Theatre in London, CCN Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy, CND in Paris, Conservatoire Régionale du Grand Nancy, etc

Eleonora Romeo

Eleonora works as a production manager for the Essevesse Dance Company and the Akalmie Celsius street art company. She regularly assists the Palermo-based company Quintoequilibrio, which specialises in shows for young audiences.

She works as a dresser at the Théâtre du Briançonnais – scène conventionné Art e Territoire. At the same time, she runs the ERRE company in Avignon.

Between 2018 and 2023 she will be working on the Naugrafe Trilogy by Sicilian playwright Lina Prosa, directing Lampedusa Beach, Lampedusa Snow and Lampedusa Way.

gilbert dilelio

Gilbert is the administrator of the Essevesse Dance Company. Since 2006, he has also been head of a medico-social service within a Service d’Accompagnement à la Vie Sociale (an association-based structure for the socio-professional integration of people with disabilities).

Committed to community work, he is General Secretary of the association A.C.A.P.S – France Monde – chaired by Josette Mercier, a painter.

He is treasurer of the association “La Force de l’Ame de l’Ukraine”, founded by its president Anton Zvir. He is also involved in the “Tattoo Art Club” tattoo parlour in Marseille.