The Play project was initiated in 1995 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Italian sports newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport”. Since then, it has been presented all over the world, and up to five generations have alternated as performers. The current six artists have all been trained at the Accademia Kataklò Giulia Staccioli, the first training academy dedicated to performers of Athletic Dance Theatre, established in Milan in 2010 by the founder of Kataklò, a former Olympic gymnast.
From an artistic point of view, Play is composed of a series of sports “postcards” that takes the audience to distant places and eras: from the sense of carefree freedom evoked by a bicycle race in the countryside during the post-war period, to one of the first international stars of women’s tennis. Another diversion will be an exploration of the meaning of the circularity of life, of the perpetual search of every human being that moves to the pressing rhythm of a race.
But there will be more: a magical and hypnotic volleyball game; a rugby game that opens with a famous Maori haka; and a podium exhibiting bodies of mythological classic beauty, to show the efforts that go into achieving victory
