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.
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
We want to build a freer, more welcoming and inclusive society through artistic practices that focus on the universal languages of bodies.
We want to be part of a world which considers culture a universal human right and education towards art and beauty an exercise in citizenship. We work with determination and courage to make this happen every day.
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.
The spirit of the association, in its more than 40 years of activity, has been to bring to Rovereto the influences of the Eastern artistic tradition on Western experimentation and vice versa.
Oriente Occidente is a circular journey between theatre and dance, research and tradition, identity and innovation.
Since 2003, the association has complemented the Festival’s programming with activities in production, training, and the dissemination of dance culture. Today it is a space where companies find a home for artistic residencies, and where dance becomes a tool for building community.
