Review: Dancing among the vines on the Visavì Discovery Tour

The Visavì Gorizia Dance Festival stands out as a rare cultural event bridging Italy and Slovenia, a region historically divided but unified since Slovenia’s Schengen accession in 2007. This festival, hosted simultaneously in Gorizia (Italy) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia), offers visitors a cross-border artistic itinerary made accessible by coordinated shuttle services, accommodating a full day of performances and events.

In 2026, the festival included a Discovery Tour through the Collio/Brda hills, a renowned white-wine-producing area spanning the Italian-Slovenian border. The tour began in Gorizia and featured visits to three wineries, each paired with site-specific dance and musical performances that intertwined local terroir with contemporary artistry.

The first stop at Edi Simčič winery in Dobrovo, Slovenia, presented a half-hour dance and electronic music piece titled Angels’ Orders – The Rilke Project. Created by choreographer and DJ Pablo Girolami, the performance drew inspiration from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies, highlighting the poet’s depiction of angels as powerful, radiant beings beyond human comprehension. Dancers Matilde Di Ciolo and Matteo Capetola conveyed this complex symbolism through precise, angular movements performed in an open terrace setting overlooking the vineyards.

Following the performance, guests sampled local wines and a traditional regional dish called pasticcio, a layered pasta specialty resembling lasagne, served on wine barrels. The tasting was conducted with restraint to preserve stamina for the day’s extended schedule.

Next, the tour proceeded to Azienda Agricola Polje near Cormons, Italy, where the modern yet understated winery design complemented the natural landscape. Here, dancer and choreographer Martina Auddino performed Studio per un incontro alongside jazz saxophonist Nicolò Ricci. This collaboration, a product of the Visavì festival’s partnership with the Jazz & Wine of Peace festival, emphasized improvisational interplay between movement and live jazz music. Auddino’s attire and the distribution of dance notation sheets to the audience underscored the experimental nature of the piece.

The final winery visit brought the group to Tenuta Della Casa, which distinguishes itself by employing tulip-shaped concrete tanks for fermentation, facilitating natural wine evolution. Under a spacious wooden roof, Berlin-based dancers Carlos Aller and Cecilia Bartolino of La Rinascita company presented Nothing Happens, a meticulously choreographed piece reflecting on technology and artificial intelligence. Their performance featured synchronized lip-syncing to AI-generated voices and sound effects, complemented by costumes that merged elements of virtual reality aesthetics and feline symbolism.

After enjoying appetizers paired with Tenuta Della Casa’s wines, the group returned to Cormons for an evening performance at the local theatre. La lalangue, a 50-minute piece inspired by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s concept of the primal, chaotic soundscape preceding structured language, explored themes through neoclassical dance and live piano music. Despite the intellectual framework involving references to Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana and the dichotomy of his alter egos Florestan and Eusebius, the performance’s abstract narrative and complex symbolism challenged audience comprehension and engagement.

The day’s cultural immersion concluded with a presentation by the Ballet of the Serbian National Theatre, performing Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s 2015 work Fall at the Slovenian National Theatre in Nova Gorica. This closing act reflected the festival’s commitment to showcasing diverse contemporary dance within its cross-border setting.

Overall, the Visavì Gorizia Dance Festival combines the rich cultural fabric of the border region with innovative artistic expressions, offering attendees a distinctive experience that fuses landscape, history, dance, and wine. While some experimental works may provoke mixed reactions, the festival’s dedication to collaboration and site-responsive performances continues to distinguish it as a noteworthy event in the contemporary dance calendar.