Tracing the choreographic innovation at Rome Opera House

This text is part of a larger research that examines the notion of choreographic innovation at the Rome Opera House in relation to the cultural policies in the country from the 1960s until nowadays. Having examined the contents of the historic archive of the Rome Opera House (programme notes, press articles, photos and audiovisual material), the study focuses on the opening of the institution to choreographic innovation, here understood as a process of rethinking but also breaking with the ballet tradition, through three specific case studies: La Serata Giovani Coreografi Europei (1991) with works by Mauro Bigonzetti, Lionel Hoche, Jean-Pierre Aviotte and Kim van der Boon; the remaking of Coppelia (1994) by Bigonzetti and an evening dedicated to La Danza d'Autore (2010) with pieces by Virgilio Sieni, Michele Abbondanza / Antonella Bertoni and Lindsay Kemp. The three evening-length cases were produced by Rome Opera House, under the artistic direction of the corps de ballet by Elisabetta Terabust, Giuseppe Carbone and Micha van Hoecke and they were presented at the adjacent stages of the institution: Teatro Nazionale and Teatro Brancaccio. By focusing on these choreographic cases, the text investigates the institutional frame of these curatorial choices in relation to the cultural policies from which they emerged and it offers an opportunity to trace moments of contemporary making at the Rome Opera House, whose role in choreographic innovation has received little attention so far.