I cigni non muoiono mai. Variazioni sulla Morte del cigno nel terzo millennio

What remains nowadays of a choreographic work considered a milestone in the 20th century Western dance canon? In which forms and bodies has it survived over time? Who collects its legacy and why? How does it resonate with present choreographers and what values can it convey in the future? These are some of the questions which Swans Never Die deals with. A project conceived by a network of national partners: Lavanderia a Vapore, Operaestate Festival Veneto and CSC Centro per la Scena Contemporanea Bassano del Grappa, Triennale Milano Teatro, Fondazione Teatro Grande di Brescia, Festival Bolzano Danza – Haydn Foundation, Il Cassero LGBTI Center – Gender Bender Festival, Mnemedance and DAMS/University of Turin. During the 2021/’22 season, SND has invited the audience to re-think, or better re-presentify (through workshops and performances), The Dying Swan, solo created by Michel Fokine for Anna Pavlova in 1905: an opportunity to explore styles, compositional techniques, cultural and anthropological identities. Fitting along the line dedicated to the reenactment of repertoire in contemporary age, the paper – starting from an historical and theoretical framework (not forgetting some emblematic previous variations on the “swan theme”, like the Invisible Piece by Cristina Kristal Rizzo) – aims to offer a phenomenic analysis of some salient moments of the project, through declarations, critical restitutions, documents, and work materials.