“I want to start from dance as an inexplicable, unjustifiable, perceivable, livable and traversable practice, shaping it as a complete, perhaps ancient, experience. Making room for a deeper knowledge of inhabiting the body, which does not need to be contextualised, imagining to free it from the yoke of its relationship with theory, context and justification.
A funeral for all the things we can no longer bear.”
– Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin
Whatever I am / let it be seen is an elegy, a prayer with a tragic tone, a liturgical song for what returns to the earth to be transformed, a communion with the spirits, a primordial way of inhabiting the body. Using the experiential dimension of dance, the work highlights the importance of what is ephemeral and cathartic.
At a time when we are called upon more than ever to bear the weight of what can no longer be, Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin turns to the body and its experience, anchoring a sensitive, necessary and transformative perception.
Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin is an Italian artist of Armenian descent working in the fields of dance and live performance. She trained in dance, and her work takes the shape of movement, video, text, choreography, sound and gathering, addressing the relationship between dance, divination and writing, the geography and the opposite of belonging, the fetish for language, its politics and its numerous frictions. She began her artistic practice in 2010 in collaboration with Marco D’Agostin and Francesca Foscarini, with whom she founded Associazione Culturale VAN in 2014. Since 2018, she has been regularly leading Pleasure Body, a space dedicated to facilitating practices of well-being and rest that has been presented at institutions such as Harvard University, Siobhan Davies Studios, Saison Foundation Tokyo, Gropius Bau Berlin and Sophiensæle. In 2020, she created Գիշեր | gisher, a multimedia work exploring her diasporic experience. The piece was selected for LIFT Concept Touring and is currently on tour. In 2022-2023, Giorgia’s work was produced and supported by VIERNULVIER and she was also selected for Breaking the Spell, a project on the ethics of care and feminist practice in art-making contexts. Giorgia’s work is produced and supported by, among others, Associazione Culturale VAN, VIERNULVIER, Centrale Fies Art Work Space, AtelierSi, BASE Milano, Lavanderia a Vapore and Milano Mediterranea ميلانو المتوسّطيةّ.
by Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin
with F. De Isabella, Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin, Lele Tori
dance Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin
text Giulia Crispiani, Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin
writing collaborationF. De Isabella, Lele Tori
movement guidance and support Elena Giannotti
dramaturgy questions and support Jamila Johnson-Small
costume design and making Max Simonetto naturaviolenta
sound design F. De Isabella
light design Giulia Pastore, Elena Vastano
care and technical realisation Elena Vastano
vocal coaching Giulia Impache
care, management and production Giulia Traversi
organization and logistics Eleonora Cavallo
administration Federica Giuliano, Paola Miolano, Irene Maiolin
communication Giuseppina D’Alessandro
produced by VAN
with the support of Ministero della cultura, Regione Emilia-Romagna, Centrale Fies, Santarcangelo festival, BASE Milano, Lavanderia a Vapore (within the framework of the project Lavanderia a Vapore), Le alleanze dei corpi ZEIT, CCA Glasgow (in collaboration with Take me somewhere)
thanks to Alessio, Leo, Stefania, and all the people who crossed paths with FUORIPIOVE (a project curated by VAN)
ph. Roberta Segata courtesy Centrale Fies