Dance and Architecture. Representations. Surveying the Geographies of Space (Antonella Salucci, Eleonora Giancristofaro)

The contribution presents the results of a research, started in the first months of 2018, within the Degree Laboratory in Architectural Representation of the University of Chieti and Pescara (Italy), focused on the study of the relationships between the languages of Architecture and the Dance. Through the analysis of heterogeneous sources, a certain number of case studies has been surveyed. A ‘scan’ on the worlds of performance on the one hand, and on the architecture of the scene as a container and auxiliary space for performance, on the other. Considering the time span from the 1920s to the 1930s, there are four scenic-architectural and expressive moments to be explored: the Ballet Russes (1917–1928) by Sergej Djagilev; the Triadic Ballet (1922) by Oskar Schlemmer; the Total Theater (1926) by Walter Gropius. The methodologies adopted are summarized as follows: first the sampling and cataloguing of the graphical documents, iconographic textual; the second concerned the process of detection and representation of performance spaces as a result of critical and elaborative data analysis. This investigation allowed us to observe and represent scenic spaces, in which the performers generate variable geographies in space through the mutual interaction with architecture. A process in which space, costume, scenes and music, in their changing produce sense and emotion for the viewer. In these notes, we try to visualize the complexity of such interactions.