W am I

In W am I, the 5 W (Who, What, Where, When, Why) are the questions that drive the creative process, which the artist explores with a transdisciplinary approach. Through sound composition, movement, and painting, W am I seeks a physicality and body that detaches from the rooted memory of the gender binarity in dance and form. Through its fluid and transformative expressions, W am I challenges the historical limitations placed on the body, allowing for a reimagining of identity beyond societal norms.

W am I is a performance, a container of questions, a hybrid and fluid experience that continues to evolve over time.

The painting created during the performance became part of the archive ‘resti’.

PERFORMANCE AND PAINTING ARCHIVE 2022-2024 / ONGOING TOUR

Concept, creation, visual, performance: Nunzia Picciallo

Sound: Nunzia Picciallo - Marcal

Executive production: Equilibrio Dinamico

Supported by: Big Factory, Associazione Culturale Ri.E.S.Co. - Network Internazionale Danza Puglia, Fuorimargine Sardegna, Tersicorea T.Off

Realized with the support of Movin’up - performing arts 2023/2024 promoted by MIC Ministry of Culture - General Directorate for Performing Arts and GAI Association for the Circuit of the Young Italian Artists together with TPP Puglia Public Theater - Apulia Region and with GA/ER Association Young Artists of Emilia Romagna

AWARDS

WAMI (extract) Prize Performance at 27th Internationales Solo-Tanz Theater 2023 (Germany)

Incentivo alla scrittura coreografica Cortoindanza 2023 (Italia)

SAI Festival award (Japan) 2024

Masdanza Award (Canary Islands) 2024

Special Award Movin’up IN 2023/2024

Project selected for Stray Birds Dance Platform 2023

Vetrina della giovane danza d'autore 2022 - Network Anticorpi XL

PERFORMED AT:

Festival Ammutinamenti -

Vetrina della Giovane Danza Italiana - Network Anticorpi XL Sirene Festival

Prospettiva Danza Teatro

Fabbrica Europa Festival

Centro Körper

Rassegna Logos

Teatro San Matteo

Biennale Marte Live

Densità Festival

Azioni in Danza

Sottovenere

Fuori Formato Festival

Spazio Arte

International Solo Tanza Theater + tour (Germany)

FADA Dance Festival (France)

Plein Theatre (The Netherlands)

Festival International de la Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico)

SAI festival (Japan)

HIKIBI II (Japan)

SoloDuo Festival (Germany)

MASDANZA (Gran Canaria), Moving Memory Broadway Presbyterian Church (New York)

SIDance (South Korea)

Gunsan International Dance Festival (South Korea)

PRESS REVIEWS

When attending a performance such as W am I by Nunzia Picciallo—innovative and clearly aimed at raising awareness of the right to a personal search for one’s own identity, and the consequent liberation from gender stereotypes—it is essential to be careful with the terminology we use when speaking and reflecting on it afterward.

“Transgressive” is likely the word that resonates on spectators’ lips after the show; yet transgression presupposes the necessary existence of a norm. Picciallo’s ability, through her repetitive movements within a dance devoid of gender and classification, lies precisely in recreating a bodily oscillation so spontaneous and natural that it reasserts—and ultimately consecrates—the non-original, socially constructed primacy of the so-called norm.

Picciallo, stepping away from the conventional stage that celebrates physical forms and profiles, has crossed the boundary of prejudice—both external and internal—deciding who to be and who not to be, showing us her choice not to choose a pre-established identity. With overwhelming delicacy, she carried us into her emancipated world, answering the Who, Where, When, and Why of her artistic work; bold yet reserved, deeply sensitive—qualities especially revealed by those who grow embarrassed by excessive applause.

Cristina Peretti - Banquo

RESTI - PAITINGS AND PERFORMANCE ARCHIVE

The paintings created during the performance become part of the "RESTI" archive and collection and can be exhibited.

So far the archive contains paintings from performances in Italy, France, The Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico.

“Nunzia Picciallo documents with their own body what happens in the here and now and uproots it from the momentary to expand its duration. The body creates and at the same time archives the instances of a self in movement."

(Sara Raia for Theatron)