Marinella Senatoreu - Artistic Performance Liberating Society

Text and photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Contemporary modern dance, inspired by renowned choreographer Pina Bausch and actively liberated by figures like Jerome Bel and Xavier Le Roy, has evolved from past entertainment into a tool for thought. Today, it crosses boundaries, merging happenings and body art with participatory aesthetics, constantly expanding the scope of visual arts and creating new possibilities. Examples include Tino Sehgal’s works combining theater, dance, and visual arts, or Ming-Wei Li’s artistic performances. There is no need to question whether they are art or dance; they are outstanding contemporary creative cases.

Italian artist Marinella Senatoreu (born 1977) is one of the current generation of cross-disciplinary participatory artists. With a dual educational background in classical music and film art, she develops diverse creations including performances, videos, installations, sculpture, sound, photography, and painting. She integrates these into non-traditional participatory dance, bridging individual and collective physical vocabularies, behavioral attitudes, and performances. Through her coordination and planning, she invites audiences to participate in her projects, mobilizing entire communities to write scripts and perform them using clearer cinematic techniques. This highlights powerful collective creation and initiates dialogues on oral storytelling, culture, and social structures.

Artist Marinella Senatoreu has long reflected on educational processes regarding liberation and choreography. In 2013, she founded "The School of Narrative Dance." The concept of storytelling, like experience, aids choreographic development through horizontal learning, driving the growth of individuals and active citizens via informal education. This school offers alternative art education, encouraging everyone to share what they know. It uses dance as a common language to gather and celebrate locals and enthusiasts, inviting audiences to participate in new types of intellectual exchange through dance performance experiences. Her personal performances explore urban issues and various social themes of liberation, promoting social democratization fairly through art forms such as dance, painting, collage, installation, video, photography, and sound.

Note: Information derived from the introduction to the first "Move" art exhibition at Centre Pompidou and an interview with Marinella Senatoreu.