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Dance scholar and dramaturg GAIA CLOTILDE CHERNETICH interviews Italian choreographer ADRIANA BORRIELLO, whose work is characterised by a deep attention to the rhythmic structures of dance and music and an anthropological approach to dance, which the choreographer developed in particular between 1997 and 2006. Beginning with the memories of the first experiences that shaped Borriello’s professional choices as a dance student aspiring to become a dancer and then a choreographer, their discussion revolves around her views on dance memory, transmission and the development of her teaching approach. In Borriello's oeuvre, dance transmission and memory are intertwined with the pedagogy of teaching dance composition that, in turn, is considered a tool to investigate her past choreographic works. In this perspective, Borriello comments on the responsibilities of the dance teacher whose transformative role consists of connecting dance technique and choreographic thinking to the aesthetics, the politics and the ethics of nowness. Furthermore, Borriello understands memory as the individual’s contribution to the collective memory of humanity and she places this idea at the core of her artistic and teaching philosophy. Through this lens, the reenactment of the choreographer’s works appears as a process of giving new life to past choreographic materials through ways that maintain them faithful to the original performance but also open to transformatio.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
[00:00:18] What do you recall from your first experience in dance? How did it inform your approach to choreography?
[00:10:15] How did you first approach choreography?
[00:17:44] How do you view the practice of dance transmission?
[00:31:34] If I told you that "transmission is a form of delving into memory" would you agree with me?
[00:34:39] How would you position your work within the contemporary dance scene?
[00:40:24] Do you archive your work?
[00:45:44] What is the relationship between archive and memory in your work?
[00:47:10] Do you think that the notion of "choreography" should be updated?
[00:54:27] How do you consider spectatorship in your work?
[00:56:43] Can memory be activated as a tool and as a relationship?
[01:07:34] In your work, is there any room for nostalgia?
[01:09:52] Can memory run out?