The Foundation continues its commitment to the arts by supporting the 20th edition of “Premio Roma Danza” at the National Academy of Dance in Rome.

The prominent international dance competition “Premio Roma Danza” was held at the National Academy of Dance, located in Aventino hill, one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was founded, from July 8 to July 12.

All the numerous prizes were funded by the Cuomo Foundation, and the week-long event was sponsored by the Municipality of Rome, and its cultural advisor Miguel Gotor. The winning dance and choreography prizes have been financed for the past four years by the Foundation.

After the last two years of online and remote-organized editions forced by the Covid hiatus, the “Premio Roma Danza “competition finally returned to being live on the “Teatro Grande” stage.

The competition and award presentation were also live streamed on the social network platforms of the Academy using Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to maintain the national and worldwide online following developed during the pandemic editions.

The prestigious contest attracts young dancers from many nationalities. There were two competition categories of solo and group choreography as well as the video dance section, which featured three distinct categories: ‘Dance Movie’, ‘Dance Published Production’ and ‘SmArtphone Dance’.

In addition, there was the special ‘Roma Capitale’ award; open only to young residents of the Roman districts to express through movement “the dance of the inhabitants” as stated by Maria Enrica Palmieri the long-time director of the Academy of Dance.. A judging jury of professionals from around the world was hand-selected and invited, as always, by Maria Enrica Palmieri.

Adriano De Santis, the head of Rome’s Experimental Centre for Cinematography, served as the jury’s president and presided over the Video Dance categories.

He was joined in judging the Video Dance category by the image specialist Italo Pesce Delfino and the Lebanese director and video artist Elie Yazbek.

The Australian choreographer Shaun Parker judged the choreography categories together with his jury, which included the dance critic and writer Donatella Bertozzi, the visual artist Alfredo Pirri, the Tunisian choreographer Nawel Skandrani, and the Haitian dancer and choreographer Kettly Noël.

The spectacular Gala performance and award ceremony for the 2022 edition attracted over 450 guests and took place in the scenic open-air ” Teatro Grande.” The Cuomo Foundation’s general director, Mr. Francisco Diaz, and its Italian representative, Nina Orenga de Gaffory, were among the thrilled audience members cheering and praising the young dancers’ accomplishments.