Milo and Bruno Tell IterCulture · May and June 2026
What Begins Does Not Simply End
In May, works leave rehearsal rooms, move through towns and cities, and meet people. In June, as the Festival approaches, life also asks for a moment of farewell.
May · A programme that opens up
Not Everything Has to Be Finished to Be Shared
BRUNO: Milo, when does Assaggi di Primavera actually finish?
MILO: The programme ends on 30 May. But what happens in a residency does not always follow the dates printed on the programme.
BRUNO: And I thought you just had to stack the chairs and turn off the lights.
MILO: Sometimes you have to turn them on. To see what is beginning to take shape.
INNESTI supports artists’ research across different places: Catania, Acireale, Viagrande and Petralia Sottana. Open sharings are not final examinations: they are moments when audiences are invited into work that is still taking shape.
16 May · Catania
Giuiuzza, Returning and Moving Images
BRUNO: Are we going back to San Berillo?
MILO: On 16 May. Trame di Quartiere hosts Giuiuzza, a first study by Veronica Parlagreco, selected through Danza Urbana XL.
BRUNO: Veronica lives in Berlin, doesn’t she?
MILO: Yes. She returns with research into domestic gestures, memory and relationships between generations of women. Alongside the performance are films from La danza in 1 minuto, in collaboration with COORPI.
BRUNO: So nothing really ended in San Berillo in April.
MILO: No. The conversation continues, and people return.
Veronica Parlagreco speaks with the audience after Giuiuzza · Open the original video on Google Drive ↗
Giovanna Cutrona at the IterCulture desk, Trame di Quartiere, 16 May · Watch on Google Drive ↗
The Visioni Contemporanee space at Trame di Quartiere · Watch on Google Drive ↗
24 May · Acireale
ISOLE: Three Works in Progress and an Audience That Responds
BRUNO: And ISOLE? Actual islands?
MILO: They are three research projects by Sicilian artists: Stanza by Gaetano Palermo and Michele Petrosino; Supermarket by Marco Fichera and Chiara Di Guardo; and Addøsso by Giorgia Briguglio and Mariana Cerino Calazans.
BRUNO: Three different works, all in the same place?
MILO: On 24 May they meet at La Pépinière in Acireale, in collaboration with Mò.DANCEFEST by Danz@M.E and Viagrande Studios. Audiences see parts of the research and speak directly with the people making it.
BRUNO: So I can ask questions even if I haven’t understood everything?
MILO: Especially then.
ISOLE artists in conversation with the audience · Open the original video on Google Drive ↗
Open sharing in the outdoor spaces of La Pépinière · Open the original video on Google Drive ↗
Valerio Verzin and the ISOLE artists speak with the audience · Watch on Google Drive ↗
ISOLE residencies at Viagrande Studios · Watch on Google Drive ↗
May · Beyond Sicily
Sofia, Novi Sad and the People You Meet
This series of encounters had already begun in April. In Vilnius, from 22 to 25 April, Valerio attended the Baltic Dance Platform, showcasing work from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, with performances, project presentations and a congress on the future of Baltic dance. Different events, but a recurring question: which works and people can we discover, support and help circulate?
The journeys do not end there: Valerio Verzin is also in Portugal, where he meets Mariia Kondratieva. From 6 to 9 May, Aerowaves’ Spring Forward in Guimarães presents twenty performances and brings together dance professionals from many countries. Among the works is GOOD VIBES ONLY (beta test) by Francesca Santamaria, an artist already encountered through IterCulture. In France, the Cluny Danse Festival runs from 12 to 17 May: another event in the European dance calendar. The photographs do not, however, establish which IterCulture representative, if any, attended Cluny.
In May, the journeys multiply. In Novi Sad, from 13 to 16 May, Moving Balkans brings artists and arts professionals together for ten selected performances, project pitches and discussions: Orazio Morace is there for IterCulture. From 16 to 19 May, Robertavenera Gambino attends the Bulgarian Dance Platform in Sofia, where she meets Anna Dankova, a guest at Teatri Riflessi in 2025, and Stephan Stereff. It is not just about watching performances. Conversations between venues can become invitations or future collaborations.
BRUNO: Hang on: while you’re in Acireale, other people are travelling?
MILO: Orazio goes to Novi Sad for Moving Balkans. Robertavenera is in Sofia for the Bulgarian Dance Platform. These are not holidays in disguise: they watch performances, meet artists and fellow professionals, and build relationships that may continue.
BRUNO: And do they at least bring back some photographs?
MILO: This time, yes.
30 May · Petralia Sottana
IF: The Possibilities of an Encounter, in Practice
BRUNO: Petralia is the place up in the mountains, right?
MILO: We are in the Madonie mountains. On 30 May, at the former Convent of the Reformed Friars in Petralia Sottana, Gaia Amico and Nicola Lorusso share their work on IF (sulle possibilità di un incontro) with the public.
BRUNO: And what do they do?
MILO: They work with puppetry, bodies and waiting. The residency also grows out of the collaboration with Fondazione Cornoni and Canile Drammatico Festival. There is the town, its people, and a conversation after the sharing.
BRUNO: Does Dario go?
MILO: Yes. With Simona, Sofia and Giuliana. Robertavenera, Valerio and the artists are there too.
BRUNO: I like it when a photograph seems to say: we got here together.
Open sharing of IF in Petralia Sottana · Open the original video on Google Drive ↗
The Petralia community takes part in the conversation · Open the original video on Google Drive ↗
Gaia Amico and Nicola Lorusso in Petralia Sottana · Watch on Google Drive ↗
Conversation in Petralia: Pietro Polito, Anna Quattrocchi, the artists and Valerio Verzin · Watch on Google Drive ↗
Epilogue · June
Working, and Feeling an Absence
BRUNO: So the final preparations for the Festival begin?
MILO: Yes, but June begins with news nobody wanted to hear. Billi leaves us unexpectedly.
BRUNO: My friend Billi?
MILO: That’s him. The IterCulture family builds him a beautiful new home in the woods. And Mary Imbiscuso, a Teatri Riflessi artist, will create an artwork featuring a photograph of Billi with his favourite ball.
BRUNO: So when we come home, Billi is still there.
MILO: Yes, Bruno. Billi will always be with us, at the IterCulture house.
Meanwhile, preparations for the Festival continue, and Billi remains part of life at IterCulture.
June · Turin
Thirty Years of Looking Ahead
BRUNO: And Dario still goes to Turin?
MILO: Yes. To the meetings marking thirty years of the CRPC, organised by Fondazione Fitzcarraldo. People discuss the future of cultural organisations: how they work, how they change and what they need.
BRUNO: Thirty years is a long time.
MILO: Long enough to meet people again who have been part of different stages of the same story. And to ask what comes next.
June · Castiglioncello
Finding STANZA Again, Finding a Reason to Continue
BRUNO: And then Castiglioncello.
MILO: Then Inequilibrio, at Castello Pasquini, and Angela Fumarola. Dario goes to see performances, meet people, and spend time surrounded by art and affection.
BRUNO: But he comes across someone we know.
MILO: He finds Stanza by Gaetano Palermo and Michele Petrosino. In May we encountered it as research during ISOLE in Catania and Acireale. Now it is at Inequilibrio.
BRUNO: So the work done here did not stay here.
MILO: No. It kept moving. And as the July Festival approaches, that is something worth remembering.
BRUNO: With Billi missing.
MILO: With Billi missing.
Inequilibrio, programme and information: Armunia ↗