OVER DANCE MILANO
Toward new cultural welfare practices between dance and longevity

Over Dance Milano is a project conceived by the Centro Coreografico Nazionale / Aterballetto and the Fondazione Ravasi Garzanti, funded by Fondazione Cariplo within the framework of the Cultura Diffusa call, with the participation of the City of Milan and a network of community centers and cultural hubs. It proposes an innovative model of cultural welfare, using dance as a tool for well-being, social inclusion, and urban regeneration, aimed at people aged 65 and over.

Through a program of artistic workshops and public sharings, the project engages three community centers (Zante, Aldini, Stratico) and three cultural institutions (Teatro Franco Parenti, BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano, Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli), creating a distributed ecosystem connecting the city center and its outskirts.

In a society that is rapidly aging, Over Dance Milano offers a cultural welfare model that brings together art, well-being, and community, transforming places of social gathering into spaces of creation and care. The project aims to foster the participation of people over 65 in cultural activities, recognizing dance as a tool to improve quality of life. At the same time, it works to counter loneliness and social isolation by creating tangible opportunities for connection and participation. Bringing art outside theatres and into everyday-life spaces means bringing culture closer to those who are often excluded from it, activating spaces of expression and belonging within the social fabric.

At the heart of the project are free dance workshops hosted in community centers, led by choreographers who work with participants to build inclusive artistic pathways. Each workshop culminates in a public sharing in a city venue that is symbolically significant for culture: the pathway at Casa di Quartiere Zante, curated by Lara Guidetti, will culminate at Teatro Franco Parenti; the sessions at Aldini, led by Carlo Massari, will flow into a sharing at BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano; and the workshop at Casa di Quartiere Stratico, curated by Ivana Mastroviti, Aterballetto maître, together with Claudia De Smet, assistant to Angelin Preljocaj, will find its final expression at the Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.

An intensive training program is also planned at Magnete (Adriano district), aimed at social-sector professionals and cultural workers/artists who wish to acquire innovative tools centered on the language of the body, as well as references in the field of cultural welfare that can support project design within their respective areas of work—creating a dialogue between artistic practice and community dimension.

A scientific research process led by the Fondazione Ravasi Garzanti will closely accompany the entire project, following its evolution step by step. The aim is to understand in depth what takes place: how relationships change, how well-being is perceived, how the relationship with the body evolves, and how participation in cultural life is affected—contributing to a non-stereotypical representation of longevity. This perspective can be valuable both for shaping a new collective perception of this phase of life and for offering insights that may prove useful for integrated policies and the design of pathways dedicated to older adults.