GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort) is a performance exploring the endless flow of information on a human body, an inevitably performative body. It’s a battle between the visceral and the virtual, between flesh and data, where the most human, “non-performative” part of the body emerges through the gaps in the choreography. The work questions what happens when all daily information is poured onto a single body, asking how one individual can embody the standards imposed by constant connectivity and over-performance. The project, the second chapter in the GOOD VIBES ONLY trilogy, explores the repetitive and obsessive gesture of scrolling as a chasm of existential and sociological questions. Emerging from observing TikTok in 2022, it raises questions about translating digital logic from screen to body and the impact of this gesture on our reality.
Francesca Santamaria is an artist active in the field of Performing Arts. Her research focuses on performance logic, using the moving body and its limits to explore and reflect on the concept of being performative. Her creative journey began in 2021 with the creation of SHIFTING TOOLS, a videodance piece presented and awarded at numerous international festivals. In 2022, she joined the three-year choreographic research program Incubatore per futur_ coreograf_ CIMD. She made her debut as a creator in 2024 with COME SOPRAVVIVERE IN CASO DI DANNI PERMANENTI, co-produced by the Operaestate Festival. At the Milanese hub, she worked on the ideation and creation of the GOOD VIBES ONLY trilogy. Following her selection for Incubatore 2024, the first chapter of the trilogy, GOOD VIBES ONLY (beta test), was co-produced by the MILANoLTRE, Più che Danza, and FDE Festival Danza Estate. She is currently working on GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort), the second chapter of the trilogy. Her works have been presented in contexts such as Vetrina della giovane danza d’autore 2023, Romaeuropa Festival, Contemporanea Festival, B.Motion – Operaestate, MILANoLTRE, and Danza in Rete. Over the years, she has collaborated with various artists from the theater and performance scene, including Pietro Angelini, Vittorio Pagani, FanniBanni’s, UCCI UCCI, and VEGA. These collaborations have led to projects that have been awarded and presented in prestigious cultural venues such as Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Teatro Stabile dell’Umbria, and Biennale College Teatro. Simultaneously, she graduated from Sapienza University of Rome in Performing Arts with a master’s thesis on dance dramaturgy, and took part in several projects with the ASAC of the Venice Biennale from 2021 to 2023.
Concept and Performance: Francesca Santamaria
Dramaturgical Collaboration: Pietro Angelini
Sound Dramaturgy and Live Set: Ramingo
Lighting: Fabrizio Cicero
Styling: Elena Luca
Costume Design: Vittorio Gargiuolo
Movement Coaching: Beatrice Pozzi
Technical Direction: Giovanni Di Capua
Project Collaboration: Rossella Piazzese
Produced by: CodedUomo / Perypezye Urbane ETS
Co-produced with: Romaeuropa Festival
In collaboration with: TIR Danza
With the support of: Operaestate Festival Veneto, ATCL / Spazio Rossellini
With the backing of: Fondazione Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza / Danza in Rete, Choreographic Incubator for Future Choreographers CIMD 22/24
Artistic Residency: DAS – Dispositivo Arti Sperimentali, Fondazione Armunia, Fondazione Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza, Live Arts Cultures
Production Residency: Carrozzerie N.o.t., Ferrara Off Teatro
Special thanks to: Balletto di Roma
