IVONA & Pablo Girolami

The Rilke Project: Angels' Orders

30 min

#co-produced projects

2026

Pan-Adria

Pablo Girolami is the Pan-Adria Fellow 2026/27. The Network selected the Rilke Project for the strength and maturity of its choreographic research. The project stands out for its distinctive dance language, grounded in physical intensity, repetition, and a deep exploration of the body as a site of rhythm and perception. Rooted in the landscapes of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the work embodies the principle of “taking up the region to take on the field,” activating natural environments as spaces for artistic creation. By connecting territory, cultural heritage, and contemporary dance practice, the project opens new ways of engaging with landscape, history, and audience. Through this approach, the Rilke Project reflects the values of artistic excellence, regional dialogue, and contemporary relevance cultivated by the Pan-Adria Network.

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Angels' Orders emerges from the encounter between foundational poetic text — Rilke’s First Elegy — and a living landscape shaped by wind, breath, and sound. The project originates from the Rilke Trail in Duino and unfolds as a site-responsive performance conceived for squares, fields, rivers, urban parks and natural landscapes. At its core lies the meeting point between poetry and electronic music. The elegy is neither illustrated nor narratively interpreted; instead, it becomes physical impulses, vibrations, and rhythm. The physical language, rooted in IVONA’s research, operates through repetition, magnetism, and curiosity. The BPM of the live DJ set, moving through the bodies, creates an unpredictable relationship in which mutual listening transforms the encounter into a living, spontaneous composition.

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context

Pan-Adria is a unique regional network for contemporary dance, initiated by En–Knap, bringing together seven dance institutions from Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy. As the only network of its kind in the region, it provides selected dance artists with comprehensive support in the development and production of new works, while creating opportunities for their networking and circulation across the region. During the current season, The Rilke Project will be presented at the other partner venues.

bio

Pablo Girolami is an Italian-Spanish choreographer trained at the Tanz Akademie Zürich. He later danced with the Hessisches Staatsballett Wiesbaden/Darmstadt and with Spellbound Contemporary Ballet, collaborating with choreographers such as Wayne McGregor, Hofesh Shechter and Marcos Morau. He currently works as a freelance choreographer and is the artistic director of IVONA, and since 2024 he has also served as the artistic director of the Fagagna Dance Festival. The festival, organised in collaboration with the Ente Regionale Teatrale del Friuli Venezia Giulia, unfolds over several days dedicated to bringing together performances, workshops and encounters with artists under 35 from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, Italy and abroad.

IVONA is a contemporary dance company founded by Girolami in 2019 and developed within HOUSE OF IVONA, a cultural association based in Fagagna (Udine) established in 2021 as a platform for artistic collaboration and research. Bringing together a community of artists and collaborators, the project considers artistic languages—especially dance—as a resilient field for imagining future forms of collective life. Nature is a central source of inspiration for IVONA, whose work explores the concept of resilience through movement, translating the adaptability and vitality of natural processes into choreographic form. The company is shaped by an inclusive and diverse artistic environment, strongly influenced by LGBTQIA+ perspectives, and engages audiences across generations. Alongside its own productions, House of IVONA collaborates with associated artists and supports emerging voices such as Collettivo Nanouk, Sara Ariotti and Ona Cros.

credits

Choreography Pablo Girolami

Performers Matilde Di Ciolo, Matteo Capetola

Dramaturgy Katherina Vasiliadis

DJ Set Pablo Girolami, Vermouth Gassosa

Photography Eros Brancaleon, Tine Lisjak

 

Production House of IVONA

Co-production Pan-Adria Network

 

Pan-Adria Network

En–Knap Productions

Artisti Associati

Croatian Cultural Center Rijeka

Flota Institute

Zagreb Dance Center

Mediterranean Dance Center Svetvinčenat

City of Vicenza Municipal Theatre Foundation