Dr Giulia Taddeo

Visiting Research Fellow

Dr Giulia Taddeo

Visiting Research Fellow, November - December 2019       

Home Institution: University of Bologna    

Project: Dancing at the Edinburgh Festival. Dance, culture and national identities in the Europe of the Fifties

My research aims to fill the historiographical void regarding Italian dance in the 1950s by problematising the relationship between Italian dance and that of other countries, especially England, France and the United States. In this respect, the study of Italian dance festivals is particularly fruitful as festivals are a place of exchange and comparison not only between artistic practices, but also between the complex representations of national identity and the political positions of the different countries. Given the international perspective and the comparative approach of my research, at IASH I will be studying the Edinburgh Festival, as from 1947 the Scottish event was an artistic and organisational model of reference for all subsequent European festivals, like the Italian “Festival Internazionale del Balletto” in Genoa-Nervi and the “Festival dei Due Mondi” in Spoleto, held respectively in 1955 and 1958. Moreover, at least two other essential elements have drawn my attention to the Edinburgh festival: first of all, the attempt by the Scottish festival in 1951 to found an actual ballet company, an initiative that is similar to what happened in Italy in 1960 at the International Ballet Festival of Nervi; second, the significant presence of Italian dancers and companies at the Edinburgh Festival.

Biography:

I am a research fellow at the University of Bologna (Department of the Arts), where I carry out a research study on Italian dance criticism and theatrical institutions during the Fifties and Sixties. My previous studies and publications focused on the relationship between dance and press in Italy during the Fascism.