The forty-first edition of the Romaeuropa Festival opens under the banner of new Italian authorial voices. Sofia Nappi, a choreographer who has established herself internationally and whose work has been hosted by major European companies and theatres, presents her new production CHORA – Il vuoto all’origine in its Italian premiere with her company KOMOCO.
A work that invites us to return to the origin of movement and existence, exploring what precedes language and form. Listening, breath, gravity, and space become companions of memory, tension, and potential; fragile gestures transform into volumes, pauses, and collective flows, revealing how emptiness is not absence, but possibility and creation.
The evening opens with DODI, the first choreography by Sofia Nappi, a short duet that explores the torment and hidden poetry within the relationship with the other.
Sofia Nappi is a choreographer and the artistic director of KOMOCO, an Italian contemporary dance company with an international presence, co-founded together with its earliest inspirers, Adriano Popolo Rubbio and Paolo Piancastelli.
Her early creations quickly received prestigious recognition, including the Partner Introdans Award at the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition 2021, as well as 1st Prize, the Critics’ Award, and the Production Award at the International Choreography Competition Hannover (2021).
Today, KOMOCO’s works are presented in Italy and abroad, touring across Europe, Mexico, Canada, and Serbia, and appearing at international festivals and institutions such as La Biennale di Venezia, Romaeuropa Festival, MASDANZA, Teatros del Canal, Danse Danse Montréal, and the Belgrade Dance Festival.
As an independent choreographer, Sofia creates works for international companies and theaters, including the National Theatre Mannheim, Staatsoper Hannover, Scottish Dance Theatre, Introdans, Göteborg Opera, and Nederlands Dans Theater 2.
She has also been active in international training and research, collaborating with institutions such as Tisch NYU, Micadanses Paris, Henny Jurriëns Studio Amsterdam, Elephant Madrid, Tanzpunkt Hannover, École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal, and Opus Ballet Firenze. Since 2022, she has also organized the biennial workshop Komoco Intensive in Florence.
Sofia trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York and further deepened her study of movement through Gaga and the work of the Hofesh Shechter Dance Company, both of which have had a profound influence on her choreographic language.
