L.A.V.A.

L.A.V.A. is an international co-production by ICK Dans Amsterdam and Scenario Pubblico / Compagnia Zappalà Danza. Two leading voices in European dance meet: Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten from Amsterdam and Roberto Zappalà from Catania, Sicily. Their encounter does not seek a smooth blend. This is not a double bill and not a fusion, but a field of tension in which difference calls new movement into being.

The intuitive, physical language of Greco & Scholten collides with the rhythmic, collective energy of Zappalà. Bodies approach one another, pulse, harden and break open again. On one shared field, a new choreographic language takes shape: raw, layered and unpredictable.

Dance as lava: tension, friction and underground flow
Like lava simmering beneath the surface, L.A.V.A. builds pressure. The performance moves between slowness and eruption, proximity and resistance, control and surrender. Intensity arises from friction: from the moment bodies, styles and rhythms touch without losing their own identity. The soundscape by Salvador Breed is a force of its own within the performance. Electronic textures, deep resonances and seismic vibrations challenge the choreography, support it and sometimes work against it. The audience is placed in the midst of this physical and sonic eruption.

L.A.V.A. asks an urgent question: can we bear difference and ultimately see it as fertile new ground? The performance shows how life force does not come from distance, but from proximity. Not from avoiding friction, but from the courage to remain within it.

About ICK Dans Amsterdam
Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten have worked together since 1995, building an internationally recognised body of work that spans contemporary dance, opera, theatre, music and film. Their work begins with the intuitive, curious body: a body that refuses to be fixed by imposed forms and instead gives direction to movement, time and space. In 2021, Greco and Scholten received the VSCD Golden Swan lifetime achievement award for their contribution to Dutch dance.

About Roberto Zappalà
Roberto Zappalà is the artistic director and choreographer of Compagnia Zappalà Danza, which he founded in Sicily in 1990. He has created more than 85 works, developed his own choreographic language called MoDem and founded Scenario Pubblico, Italy’s first international choreographic centre. In 2024, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his body of work.