Set off on a special journey with no luggage and no destination, only to return with a suitcase brimming with intense, reconciling emotion. And to music. And in dance. That was the surprise waiting for the lucky spectators at the theater-dance performance that closed a festival on the alphabet of emotions in Viterbo last November. The singular production came from Compagnia della Mia Misura, a Rome-based collective that runs a laboratory for inclusion, integrating people with disabilities alongside anyone eager to share their diverse abilities.
Fifteen extraordinary "dance-actors" carried spectators on a timeless journey through imagined places and unexplored inner worlds, drawing them into an unexpected collective choreography—a dance of life that speaks of uniqueness and of us. Three performances, each devoted to the theme of travel: a journey without destination, without end date. What matters is not where you arrive but everything in between. The waiting. The departure. The discovery. And then the dance—a conduit of freedom and encounter. That dance which, as Valerio, a veteran member of the group, puts it, "turns on lights and makes shadows disappear." Where there is a role for everyone, and everyone feels they belong. Like Daniele, a dancer of exceptional artistic gifts who does not speak in words but tells his story—and himself—with piercing, overwhelming power through movement and the language of his body.
It all begins with work on self-perception. Learning to "feel" through listening to music and creating movement.
It all begins with work on self-perception. Learning to "feel" through listening to music and creating movement.The performance grew out of a Dance-Theater laboratory, a project in social inclusion that promotes the culture of diversity through practices in Dance Movement Therapy. In the vision of its founders—Roberta Bassani and Vittoria La Costa—the laboratory is a space for expression and communication, "a privileged place for the emergence of individual dynamics and issues, for people with and without disabilities." Since December 2011, the group has taken its name, Compagnia della Mia Misura, and through self-organization and self-funding has begun performing at festivals and presenting shows.
"Work. The desire to take risks, to do things, to be present. These are the hallmarks of this group," says Roberto Nucera, an animator and member of the dance-theater company. "Everything starts with work on self-perception—learning to 'feel' by listening to music and making movement."
Beyond the dimension of feeling and body awareness lies connection with others. "The strength of the group is the strength of this company," Nucera continues. So compelling was this energy that spectators at the performance could not help but board that virtual train themselves, becoming dancers in their own right, each with their own ticket and destination, yet all united in sharing a piece of the journey. No scenery decorated the stage—the power of the performance lived entirely in the celebration of freedom to move and to be—only a single object heavy with symbolic weight: the suitcase, a metaphor for the emotional baggage we all carry. Because each person has their own measure, dances at their own pace, and the most authentic encounters along the way are nothing but shared steps in dance. OL