Mission
Oriente Occidente is an open cultural institution which believes in the practice and culture of dialogue. It develops networks of relationships through the language of dance. In their opinion, dance is always about overcoming boundaries: of language, ethnicity, gender, age, culture. Oriente Occidente is a bridge between East and West, North and South, form and substance, ethics and aesthetics, past and future.
Vision
Oriente Occidente wants to build a freer, more welcoming and inclusive society through artistic practices that focus on the universal languages of bodies. They want to be part of a world which considers culture as an universal human right and education towards art and beauty as an exercise in citizenship.
The Story
Oriente Occidente was founded in 1981. Its main activity has always been Oriente Occidente Dance Festival, a well-established reality that represents one of the most important Italian contemporary dance festivals known all over Europe. Oriente and Occidente are poles of an ideal path of exchanges and intersections not only between cultures, but between languages of the contemporary scene as well.
In more than 40 years of ongoing and different activities, the association undertook the task to bring into Rovereto the influences of the Eastern artistic tradition in relation to the Western experimentation and vice verse. Oriente Occidente is a circular journey between theatre and dance, research and tradition, identity and innovation.
In 2003, the programme of the association and the festival broaden with a new addition of different activities, such as production workshops, training and focused dissemination of the dance culture. With the opening of the CID - Centro Internazionale della Danza, today Oriente Occidente Studio, Rovereto gained a space where dancers and dancers are perfected in workshops and masterclasses led by world renowned artists, companies find home for artistic residencies, and where dance becomes a tool for building a community.
What is the current cultural landscape for European artists, arts professionals and audiences with disabilities in 2023? What recent advances have been made on a national and European basis?
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