Francesco Marilungo’s Stuporosa is a whirling dance in which tarantism, “possession,” and funeral lament hypnotize the audience.
The Ubu Award for Best Dance Performance 2024 comes to Fonderia. Francesco Marilungo draws inspiration from popular funeral rituals, tarantism, and the dance of Saint Vitus to create Stuporosa, an extraordinary collective work for five performers exploring the universality of grief and its healing.
Direction and Choreography: Francesco Marilungo
With: Vera Di Lecce, Martina Di Prato, Barbara Novati, Roberta Racis, Francesca Linnea Ugolini,
Music and Vocal Coaching: Vera Di Lecce
Set and Lighting Design: Gianni Staropoli
Costumes: Lessico Familiare
Photography and Video: Luca Del Pia
Production: Körper | National Dance Production Centre
Co-production: Fabbrica Europa
With the support of IntercettAzioni – Centro di Residenza Artistica della Lombardia
With the support of Short Theatre Festival, Fuori Programma Festival, Teatro Akropolis & Dracma Teatro – Progetto CURA, Did Studio, Base Milano, Qenhun
Thus, apparently without reason, the five performers of Stuporosa weep, giving life to a cry that takes on many shades: at times restrained, at times stifled, at times becoming music, then flowing into hope, then transforming into song, echoing the sounds of an ancient Salentinian funeral lament.
Their bodies fragment in search of archaic, distant forms that vanish and dissolve instantly. These forms are figures of pathos, archetypal images of human suffering handed down over centuries and civilizations—images drawn from ancient funeral rites but universal in meaning, for since the dawn of humanity, suffering has always been endured in the same way. The five performers attempt to reclaim a sense of collectivity, of rituality, to create new forms of mutual support—whispering ancient magical formulas, evoking traditional dances, singing a Salentinian lullaby.
In Stuporosa, as in ritual weeping, one witnesses a stylization of pathos, a de-hystericization of grief; and the performance itself seeks to be an invitation to reflect on mourning, on the human need for a shared cultural institution, a communal rite, to overcome moments of individual crisis.
After studying Engineering and conducting research at the Von Karman Institute in Brussels, Francesco Marilungo attended the Theatre-Dance Atelier at Paolo Grassi in Milan. Since 2010, he has collaborated with internationally renowned choreographers such as Julie Anne Stanzak, Masaki Iwana, Yasmine Hugonnet, Jan Fabre, and Romeo Castellucci. Over the years, he has performed for Enzo Cosimi, Antonio Marras, and Alessandro Sciarroni. He then began his own creative journey, seeking a personal language between performance, dance, and visual arts.
Paradise, winner of the NEXT 2015/2016 call in Lombardy, was selected by Anticorpi XL for the 2016 Vetrina della Giovane Danza d’Autore. Love Souvenir (2018) won the Inteatro Festival call and the NEXT 2017/2018 call in Lombardy. With Party Girl, he received the Prospettiva Danza Award 2020 and the Cross Award 2020, and was selected for the Nid Platform 2021. Stuporosa premiered at Short Theatre Rome in September 2023 and began an international tour. In 2024, Stuporosa was presented at the Nid Platform in the programming section and won the 2024 UBU Award for Best Dance Performance.
His new project, Cani Lunari, winner of the Premio CollaborAction – Anticorpi XL Network, will premiere in September 2025.
TICKETS
Full price: €10
Reduced: €6 (under 30, dance schools, Liceo Coreutico Matilde di Canossa, over 65, CRAL members of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia)
Reduced: €3 (under 8)
TICKET PURCHASE
ONLINE: https://www.biglietteriafonderia39.it/home.aspx
Fonderia Box Office: opens one hour before the performance (via della Costituzione 39, Reggio Emilia).
Tickets are unreserved (general admission).
CONTACTS FOR RESERVATIONS
Phone & WhatsApp: +39 334 1023554
Email: biglietteria@aterballetto.it
