Interview - Rossano Giuppa

SIX HEROINES WHO CHANGED MY LIFE

Rossano Giuppa, director and choreographer, is a guest of our theatre working on the project THE SIX HEROINES’ POWER OF ART, a theatrical-fashion spectacle that brings together dance, music, drama and fashion, with the theme and inspiration drawn from six great female artists who achieved fame and success in their respective fields during their lifetimes. Their innovations have changed the mode of artistic expression, securing them a place in history: Marina Abramovic, Georgia O’Keeffe, Vivienne Westwood, Pina Bausch, Mina and Simone de Beauvoir. Performance will be premiered on 30 September 2024 at 19:30h, at the Large Stage of Madlenianum

Known as an artist that like different form of art, as music, dance, acting, painting, fashion Mr. Giuppa have made a show who celebrate beauty and originallity.       

 

1. Directing performances is not new to you as you have studied it and worked on numerous performances. What makes The Power of Art of the Six Heroines distinctive?

What makes The Power of Art of the six heroines so different from my other performances is the idea.

I’m always fascinated by innovation in every area. I also love every kind of artistic expression.

When I started to think about a new project, I saw a group of women in my mind: strong, visionary, and motley.

For this reason, the idea was to celebrate innovation, individuality, and strategic thinking in women, connected to art.

After this, the only problem was selecting the women.

 

2. Why did you choose these six artists, with only one being Italian, and that one a singer, Mina?

Choosing the six artists wasn’t easy. My passions guided me.
In my work, I like to connect different artists and forms of art. Every moment and every place can generate something interesting. It’s important to be open-minded and able to grasp the essence and details in a site-specific way.

The first in my life is music. Music is always with me. I’ve been listening to music since I was a baby. When I have to make a decision, I listen to songs. They help me concentrate on the situation and decide. My father loved Dalida, Mina, and Milva, so I grew up with that music.
Mina is the singer par excellence. She can sing any song, thanks to her three-octave vocal range. She’s versatile, with over 150 million records sold worldwide. She combined classic Italian pop with blues, R&B, and soul in a new, sensual way.
Mina’s voice has a distinctive timbre and great power. From the beginning, she was a very emancipated woman.

I studied contemporary dance and contact improvisation while I studied Economics at university. Nelken, the Pina Bausch dance show I saw at the Argentina Theater in Rome in September 1995, changed my life.
I’m also a fashion director, and for this show, in the fashion branch, Vivienne Westwood is perfect. She is a fashion icon, responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashion into the mainstream. She organized campaigns for nuclear disarmament, fought for civil rights, and against climate change.

Marina Abramović is a conceptual and performance artist. Her works explore body art, endurance art, the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind.
Simone de Beauvoir was an existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Meanwhile, the painter Georgia O’Keeffe was the leader of the American Modernism and Precisionism movements, gaining international recognition for her meticulous paintings of natural forms, flowers, and desert landscapes. In painting, being a woman is still a limitation.

 

3. How does a fashion performance, such as a fashion show, differ from a theatrical performance?

I always try to explore the designers' world and I’m interested in their relationship with art—what they love and what inspires them—to translate that into the show.

Often, especially if the designer agrees with my vision, I include singers, performers, actors, and dancers in the fashion show. But The Power of Art of Six Heroines will be something special, I hope.

 

4. Fashion videos directing is something you're particularly familiar with and even teach it to our students. Will we have the opportunity to see some of your video work in this performance as well?

I often work on fashion videos and teach it as well.
Everything begins with the image, and the photo is very important because it captures the moment and represents it. For this reason, I love Polaroid photos—they are instant.
The video tells the story around the moment; you can create and describe the moment, and it can become a story in the end.
Live performances in a space replay the moment multiple times, each time slightly different, and for that reason, they are both unique and ever-changing.

In the show, I will use photos and videos to support the narration, but the core will be the live performance itself, not external images. Everything will focus on the wonderful story of six women, capable of creating something special and magical, innovative and trendy.

 

5. What can the Belgrade audience expect at the premiere on 30th September?

The audience at Madlenianum will have the pleasure of discovering these famous women from different angles and points of view, thanks to great artists such as actresses Tamara Aleksic, Tamara Sustic, and Natasa Miovcic; singer and composer Iva Ikon; choreographer Matthew Solovieff; and designers Igor Todorovic, Verica Rakocevic, Zdravka Kulier, Emilija Stojakovic, and Dragana Ognjenovic, as well as Distante store and Concept 53, along with the dancers from The National Foundation for Dance.

The show, strongly supported by the agency Fabrika, which co-produces it in association with the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum, is the result of a collaboration between so many highly professional personalities.
My role is to harmonize all these artists to celebrate other artists.

This is my third performance in Belgrade. I love this city and the people who live and work here. I’m so honored, and I’ll put all my soul into the show—it's both my promise and my desire.

Interviewed by Tatijana Rapp

Photo: Fabrika