19th edition of the “Premio Roma Danza” focusses again on Video -Dance

Professoressa Enrica Palmieri- Director – National Academy of Dance, Rome – 12/07/2021

Founded in 2001 by the Accademia Nazionale di Danza (AND ) and granted patronage of Roma Capitale, the Premio Roma Danza event has become one of the most prestigious annual international dance competitions.

Aimed at both current dance students of AND and external young dance practitioners, it usually takes place on the stages of the Teatro Grande of the Academy in Rome. Following on from last year’s 18th edition which was held as a digital online event due to Covid-19 and due to this year’s continued restrictions, Premio Roma Danza 2021 was again held exclusively online with entrants submitting and uploading Video Dance segments. Over 150 short recordings of dance were viewed and deliberated on by the international jury chaired by the world famous and multiple honoured Spanish-Swedish dancer and teacher Ana Laguna, the American Robert Swinston choreographic director of Merce Cunningham Trust and artistic director of the Center National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC) in Angers, the Russian dancer Kristian Ratevossian, international renowned performer and a teacher of Vaganova technique, the Italian dance critic Alfio Agostini and director of BALLET2000 and his fellow Italian Cesare Pietroiusti, president of the Palaexpo Special Company.

The 4-day online competition took place 8th-12th July, with the jury-led prize giving gala award ceremony held on the evening of the 12th July and broadcast live from the Academy’s Teatro Ruskaja. The evening was overseen by the director of AND Prof. Maria Enrica Palmieri and her team, the members of the jury, an invited audience and in attendance representing the Cuomo Foundation were Nina Orenga de Gaffory and Janaka Samarakoon.

« Toward the sea » by Vittorio Macchini (Roma X) – winner – « Roma Capitale » Special Prize.

This year, a brand new scholarship award the “Roma Capitale Special “ Prize was given out under the auspices of Enrica Palmieri. It permits a young dancer to come to the Roman Academy for two months to develop his or her skills.

The Academy’s director hopes that this initiative will empower and motivate dancers from countries where the art form is not as developed as it is in Western Europe. In announcing the prize, Enrica Palmieri “praised the work of the Cuomo Foundation, which for many years has been actively involved in the education and training of young people in developing countries, for inspiring her awareness.”

2021 marks the third consecutive year of the partnership between the Cuomo Foundation with the AND; supporting the Premio Roma Danza competition. The foundation sponsors all of the financial prizes awarded.

In addition to the usual category of prizes this year, the Cuomo Foundation created a special “Alfredo and Maria Elena Cuomo” prize and awarded Samuele Soddu for his work “Le Memorie della Musica”. This “video dance” was chosen for its “creativity and resilience”.