Open Studio THIS IS A PREMIERE – unplugged by and starring Cristiana Morganti and Emanuele Soavi
Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 October 2025
A dance performance by and starring Cristiana Morganti and Emanuele Soavi
THIS IS A PREMIERE is an unvarnished, humorous reflection on courage, fear and artistic survival – a performance that transforms challenges in art and conversation into movement. This unusual collaboration brings together for the first time two outstanding figures from the international dance scene: Cristiana Morganti and Emanuele Soavi. They share the stage: the long-standing leading figure of Tanztheater Wuppertal, Pina Bausch – now a freelance choreographer, dancer and actress – and the choreographer, influenced by William Forsythe and Jiří Kylián, who has been leading his ensemble Emanuele Soavi incompany in Cologne for thirteen years. Through poetic dialogues of movement, they explore their artistic identities, the effects of cultural immigration and the contradictions of the dance world. In search of themselves, Morganti and Soavi open up their personal archives and, with wit and irony, stage a biographical exchange characterised by generosity, melancholy and great devotion.
CREDITS
Concept, choreography, performance: Cristiana Morganti, Emanuele Soavi
Dramaturgy: Cristiana Morganti
Lighting design: Simone Mancini
Costumes: Chiara Venturini
Outside Eye: Achim Conrad, Kenji Takagi
Choreographic assistance, collaboration: Elena Copelli, Federico Casadei
Sound editing: Federico Casadei
Technical direction: Roman Sroka
With special thanks to Mark Sieczkarek for the costumes in the opening scene
A production by Emanuele Soavi incompany and Cristiana Morganti
In co-production with Festival euro-scene Leipzig (DE), Pina Bausch Zentrum – Wuppertal (DE), Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara – Trento (IT), TanzFaktur – Cologne (DE)
With the support of Fondazione Teatri di Pistoia (IT) and Teatro Comunale di Ferrara (IT)
Funded by the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the State Office for Independent Performing Arts North Rhine-Westphalia.
Supported by the NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ co-production funding for dance, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
