"Taca tè," a dance performance produced by Compagnia Sanpapié

Taca tè, which means “you go first” in the Emilian dialect, is a challenge to the right to exist over time, played out between two bodies separated by age who converge in the present moment of dance: a space where different times and generations meet, stages of life that observe and engage with one another in a flow of listening, profound intimacy, shifting boundaries, and bodies that debate and find common ground. The codes of ballroom dancing—which dictate roles, melodies, and spatial arrangements—dissolve into an “alternative” environment that gradually breaks free from structures to open up multiple perspectives on the body and the relationship. A continuous process of becoming where the dancers’ internal rhythms drift apart and clash, only to reunite in shared spaces that allow them to transcend roles, exchange energy and positions, and overturn conventions and stereotypes in an ironic game—at times theatrical and surreal.