The Fondazione Nazionale della Danza was founded in 2003. The founding members are the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. The Fondazione Nazionale della Danza develops its producing and touring activity under the name Aterballetto, the leading contemporary dance company in Italy and the first permanent ballet-producing organization apart from Opera House companies.
Founded in 1977 as Compagnia di Balletto dei Teatri dell’Emilia – Romagna and directed by Vittorio Biagi, since 1979 the company has known as Aterballetto under the direction of Amedeo Amodio. Composed of soloist dancers capable of performing in every dance style, Aterballetto has gained wide recognition in Italy and on the international scene thanks to the high quality of its performers and artistic directors: Amedeo Amodio (1979-1997), Mauro Bigonzetti (1997-2007, until 2012, principal choreographer) and Cristina Bozzolini with Giovanni Ottolini (2008-2017).
Many acclaimed Italian and international choreographers have worked with the company, including Mauro Bigonzetti, Michele Di Stefano, Andonis Foniadakis, William Forsythe, Johan Inger, Jiří Kylián, Cristiana Morganti, Ohad Naharin, Jiří Pokorny, Cristina Rizzo, Rihoko Sato, Hofesh Shechter, and Giuseppe Spota.
The Fondazione Nazionale della Danza received recognition as Production Dance Centre in 2015, in this way enabling artist residencies, hospitalities, and performances by Italian and international companies. The significant dance projects its offers at regional and national level make it unique in Italy. The Fondazione organizes events, dance seasons, and a variety of projects that promote wider public interest and awareness of the world of dance.
Since 2022 the Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto has been recognised by the Ministry of Culture as the first and only National Choreographic Centre in Italy.
A few dates in our history.
1977/1978 foundation of the Associazione Teatri Emilia Romagna Ballet Company, directed by Vittorio Biagi 1979 name changed to Aterballetto 1979/1997 artistic director Amedeo Amodio 1991 Aterballetto became a Regional Dance Centre 1997/2007 artistic director Mauro Bigonzetti 2003 Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto established 2004 the former Fonderia Lombardini became the home of Fondazione Nazionale della Danza / Aterballetto 2008/2017 artistic director Cristina Bozzolini and general manager Giovanni Ottolini 2015 ministerial appointment as Centre of Dance Production 2017 new development project under the direction of Gigi Cristoforetti 2022 became a National Choreographic Centre.
