Bologna's Danza Urbana Festival: Sharon Fridman and Cristina Kristal Rizzo

The Festival Danza Urbana in Bologna, a key late-summer event, integrates urban spaces into dance performances. On opening day, Sharon Fridman presented '147 abrazos' (20 min), an outdoor duet exploring relationship complexity through evolving embraces that shift from affection to conflict. Performers Melania Olcina and Arthur Bernard Bazin wore velvet long johns and moved to dreamy electronic music, with microphones amplifying sounds. Fridman's dramaturgical hesitation was overshadowed by the dancers' expressive power. Cristina Kristal Rizzo's 'Echoes' (60 min) at DumBo used live Facebook streaming from performers' phones, creating a double vision: real-time performance delayed via devices, echoing cosmic time. Costumes featured constellations mapping the body. Voice contributions were audible only via stream, while Frank Ocean's R&B played live. The piece, inspired by Daniele Del Giudice's 'Atlante Occidentale', redefines choreography as an habitat of difference, with rotating solos by Annamaria Ajmone, Marta Bellu, Sara Sguotti, and Jari Boldrini. Boldrini's slow-motion hand holding an apple evoked the 'apple of discord' from Greek myth. Rizzo's approach generates a new, dissident choreographic thinking for future happiness.