BODY SWEATS (for Elsa) is an homage to Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, queer "mother" of the Dada movement: dance, lecture performance, poetry reading, workout. It will be presented in Bologna (IT), by national theater ERT Emilia-Romagna Teatro, in the picturesque framing of Oratorio San Filippo Neri.
BODY SWEATS (for Elsa) is an homage to Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874-1927), an avant-garde poet and artist, one of the most radical figures of the Dada movement. The title refers to the collection of poems Body Sweats, the Baroness’s erotic, proto-feminist, proto-queer and proto-punk manifesto. This gives rise to a performance that uses sweat as a means of navigating the frictions between fatigue and pleasure. On stage, four performers in flamboyant outfits construct a collage of dance and textual materials: poems, athletic gestures, ironic tributes to an artist who transformed the body into a field of freedom.
Love letters between friends and lovers.
Waterless aqua aerobics in tiger-striped leotards.
A poem for the Baroness. A split, in her honour.
Dada(umpa).
With BODY SWEATS (for Elsa), we look at the irreverent strength of the Dadaist artist reactivated in a contemporary, energetic and undisciplined form—where the body sweats, reads, dances, quotes, desires.
With: Vittoria Caneva, Elena Grappi, Maria Chiara Vitti, Giorgia Lolli
Costumes: Eva-Liis Lidenburg, Sara Lando (tiger)
Sound work: Sebastian Kurtén
Dramaturgy: Piero Ramella
Production: Nexus Factory
with the support of the Emilia-Romagna Region, and the Municipality of Bologna
with the support of MiC Italian Ministry of Culture and SIAE, within program “Per Chi Crea” and supportER - Rete Anticorpi Emilia-Romagna, Nouveau Grand Tour (IIC di Parigi and Le Gymnase CNDC), Ira Institute, Operaestate/CSC Centro di Residenza del Veneto - Vene.Re, Piemonte dal Vivo in the frame of Residenze Coreografiche Lavanderie a Vapore, I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, HOME 2025 / Dance Gallery Perugia, City of Espoo Culture Committee, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Festival Moving in November, Graner (Barcelona)
within LANDING, a project supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and carried out by Santarcangelo Festival, in collaboration and with support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Oslo
residency presented within the network R.O.M. (Residencies On the Move) for Reykjavik Dance Festival, at the invitation of Santarcangelo Festival, in partnership with La Balsamine (Belgio), le joli collectif – Théâtre l’Aire Libre (Francia), Théâtre Prospero and Théâtre Periscope (Canada)
the network R.O.M. is supported by the European Union through the Creative Europe programme, by the Conseil des arts de Montréal and by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
realized with the support of MOVIN'UP SPETTACOLO – PERFORMING ARTS 2025/2026, promoted by MIC Ministry of Culture - General Directorate for Performing Arts and GAI Association for the Circuit of the Young Italian Artists together with Puglia Culture - Apulia Region, with GA/ER Association Young Artists of Emilia Romagna and with Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo