
On a black background, round-edged squares in varying sizes display icons and images in a collage. Arranged around the image in a neat grid, there are four photos of dance artists from the UK and from Italy. The photos sit alongside smaller graphic icons showing the maps of Italy and the UK, outlines of disabled people and dancers, and a megaphone, these graphics are coloured white, orange and black.
Open Dialogo was commissioned by Arts Council England, the Italian Ministry of Culture (The Performing Arts department), the Italian Cultural Institute of London and the British Council, to promote a bilateral cultural exchange through sharing of knowledge and experiences between disabled and non-disabled artists and influencers working in England and Italy.
The project is managed by Stopgap Dance Company, and it began with a set of free webinar series in May. The next phase of the project is for dance organisations in England and Italy to host artist residencies for D/deaf and disabled dance artists from the opposite country
These residencies will take place in September and October this year to facilitate exchange between D/deaf and disabled artists and dance organisations in England and Italy, so as to deepen relationships and shared understanding about dance, disability and creative processes between the two countries.
The artists and dance organisations were selected by a panel for the residency consisting of Jo Royce from Arts Council England, Alison Driver from British Council in Italy, and the independent dance artist Krystal Lowe, who is based in Wales. Their recommendations were approved by the project board consisting of representatives from the funder organisations of Open Dialogo.
Selected Artists and Organisations

Aristide Rontini - Italy
11-15 September
Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds will host Aristide Rontini from Bologna, produced by Nexus.
Aristide will be further developing his new work “Back Eye Black”, which is set to premiere in Crisalide Festival in Forlì in November.
Find out more about Aristide Rontini
Surface Area Dance Theatre - England
2-6 October
Oriente Occidente in Rovereto will host Surface Area Dance Theatre from Newcastle.
Surface Area Dance Theatre will run a creative residency that explores how dance can be made more engaging through the usage of subpacs and other audio visual and touch-sensitive technology.
Find out more about Surface Area Dance Theatre
Monica Barone - Italy
9-13 October
DanceEast in Ipswich will host Monica Barone from Parma, produced by LENZ Foundation.
Monica will conduct a choreographic research of her new work “Human Inhuman Posthuman – Sensitive Geosophies” to ‘unhinge’ the social habit of looking at disability through the medical model.
Find out more about Monica Barone
Nadenh Poan - England
15-19 October
Oriente Occidente in Rovereto will host Nadenh Poan from Aldershot.
Nadenh will further develop his new duet “Reflections”, which was first performed as a part of Resolution platform at The Place in May 2022.
Find out more about Nadenh PoanHost organisations
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