Marco Valerio Amico

Marco Valerio Amico from Gruppo Nanouintroduces himself as follows:

"I’m stateless by birth. I’m a performer with a contemporary Dance-Theater Company based in Ravenna, Italy. For us it is becoming vital to move cross-border: in Italy there is this schedule niche from programming, structures, residencies, venues as well as attendance. We need to go abroad to open our perspectives and to take advantage also in terms of market and exchange.
Last November 2009 we were invited by the Potsdam Festival in Germany, and it was an exciting experience for us: we discovered lots of people with our same poetical care and a spread attention to the contemporary language which we were not used to: we were surprised by the public interest toward experimental theater as our, and we were able to share opinions, be appreciated in a very wider context. From our works perspective, there are no negative aspects in mobility".

What does "being mobile" mean to you as an artist?

To me "being mobile” means having the opportunity to show our works in several contexts; to be able to know and experience different situations; to create projects in places rich of opportunities to meet and exchange and which might also inspire new creations.
We experienced mobility last September 2009, performing at the International Theater Festival Potsdam UNIDRAM in Berlin. There we discovered a complete different way of working, more attention, care, time and less worries for the artists to work, and a great work on audience development: as a result lots of people were very curious about the contemporary performances, innovative creations, enjoying the performances. It meant a wider market and a great personal as well as artistic satisfaction for us.
 

How is mobility important for you?

It is important for creativity and for earning a living; it is very important for the personal and professional development.

Did you experience any difficulty when trying to be "mobile"?

For us, the main obstacle consisted in the lack of possibilities to be promoted by our Country, thus increasing our visibility internationally. Only rarely we had problems relating to the hosting structure not properly fitting our requests. This happened more in case of rerun of a performance rather than of residency.
Concerning hospitality, attention, care and comparison with the others, we never had problems.

What would you suggest to other artists or cultural operators who want to "be mobile"? 

I would suggest to struggle, to get moving, to spend efforts and try at the beginning to make projects with a very lithe structure, easy to be set up and presented.
I would recommend to participate to European announcements, not caring about the payment, at least at the beginning: with time, changing country and broadening the network of references might be fruitful.
I suggest also going and seeing how things work out of your Country, attending International Festivals also as a spectator. It is important not to be afraid to ask for meetings with foreign operators. They often are very helpful and careful.
 

Any other comment?

One should have clear his objective and the identity of his own work. Before getting in touch with international organizations, you should get informed about the structure you aim to contact, thus avoiding to send material not fitting the needs and possibilities of such venues, wasting money.
If you are just beginning to launch your career internationally, you should better keep in touch with small realities, which might eventually open the way for the biggest ones.

Contact: info@grupponanou.it

interview by Mrs. Caterina Pasqui

pictures by Laura Arlotti - courtesy of Gruppo Nanou