Choreographer and dancer
Serena Zanconato
Hello, I am Serena, dancer and choreographer.
The dance I cultivate and teach focuses on the essence and authenticity of movement through a mindful and poetic practice inspired by the beauty of nature.
I love guiding dancers, dance lover, performers and movers toward elegant and sincere gestures, combining contemporary dance techniques with contemplative and improvisational practices that interact with and draw nourishment from the landscape.
The technical study I offer is not a cage to confine oneself in but a journey to release the burdens the body accumulates daily, refining and cleansing movement so that it becomes a clear mirror of the soul.
Similarly, I approach improvisation and choreographic research as a journey toward one’s uniqueness, not as an egocentric expression, but as the blossoming of a deep self that is as unique as every flower in its natural state.
A bridge to poetry and naturalness
I invite all my students to create a personal Ikebana, a composition using elements from nature that capture their emotions and perspective. Each person selects a branch, a flower, a stone, or moss to craft their small, simple sculpture, which becomes the guiding spirit of their dance. The petals of the flower nurture the delicacy of the hands, the leaf collected from the ground anchors the plié and the feet, while the gracefulness of a silver branch provides momentum for dynamics. Listening to imagination and sensations opens our gaze beyond the boundaries we usually impose on ourselves.
I chose this compositional exercise to immerse our gestures in the tangibility of nature and expand the possibilities of the imagination.
Ikebana will accompany you both in my online and in-person training. In the first case, it will be made with nature surrounding you daily, allowing you to discover how much artistic inspiration is at hand. In the second case, it will include elements from the landscapes we encounter together, treasures discovered step by step.
The poetry of my work is expressed through “Ways of flowering”, a space for research and training where you can encounter a dance that rejects performance obsession, shedding light on the subtler, more fascinating, and poetic aspects of movement.
Her research moves in searching for a clear flow of movement and profound elegance that, rooted in every gesture, brings us closer to the beauty of nature
My Journey and Dance
People often ask me when I started dancing.
The answer I always think of, but rarely say, is: “Since I was in my mother’s womb.”
My mother loved to sing; she had an emotional and powerful voice and sang constantly.
I feel as though I danced endlessly to her notes in her belly.
After such a beginning, I never wanted to stop. Even when I took breaks from formal training, I never gave up the daily practice by myself.
My journey began in a small village in the Modenese countryside and was far from linear. As a child, I chose rhythmic gymnastics because I loved scenic compositions with apparatuses. As a teenager, I passionately embraced hip-hop, learning moves from classes and a street dancer who mimicked Michael Jackson’s steps. By the age of seven, I was already choreographing school and community performances with great passion and courage. Eventually, I pursued professional training in contemporary dance.
At 19, in Bologna, I experienced my first small tour and prepared tirelessly to pass the audition for the Theatre Dance Atelier at Milan’s Paolo Grassi Civic School. In that academy, for three intense years, I trained from early morning to evening with classes, rehearsals, and performances. My classmates and I formed a beautiful family I will always carry in my heart.
During this time, I also graduated in Communication Sciences in Bologna, combining philosophy and performing arts, with a thesis on the freedom and self-sustainability of street dance.
After Paolo Grassi, I saved money to fly to New York and personally explore the work of Trisha Brown and Cunningham. My months in New York were filled with learning, wonder, and physically exhausting yet deeply satisfying work. I was there with Rajan, a multidisciplinary artist I fell in love with at Paolo Grassi, who became my life and artistic partner.
Back in Italy, based in Turin, Rajan and I began creating performances blending visual art and dance, experimenting with multimedia technologies in dialogue with nature’s beauty.
One of my most cherished works is “Synthesis”, inspired by NAKAJIMA HIROYUKI. In this piece, Rajan used oil pastels to trace my movements on a giant canvas laid on the floor. Synthesis moved audiences deeply, earning recognition at various festivals.
A Return to Roots and Transformation
After three years of experimentation, festivals, and teaching, life took an unexpected turn. Due to family circumstances, Rajan and I moved to the countryside near Modena. There, I began teaching and collaborating with dance communities from Emila while dancing again under the ancient threes that watched over my childhood dances.
Later, we returned to Piemonte and chose a small alpine house as our home, surrounded by forest. Here, the mountain landscapes and the birth of our two lively and poetic daughters gradually transformed our thinking and lifestyle. We started cultivating a garden and raising our first bee colonies.
My life remained full of teaching, performances, video dance projects, and mountain living. Yet, I began craving a slower pace to focus on the quality of each movement.
Then came the pandemic. Through online seminars and outdoor workshops in Turin’s parks, I explored dancing in every season, even the coldest months, discovering endless inspiration in nature’s cycles.
After the pandemic, I realized my life and dance could no longer remain the same. I stepped back to reflect and rethink. Having taught almost daily for 17 years, I knew it was time for change.
From this period of deep reflection and research, “Ways of flowering” was born. This project is now my core focus, emphasizing the subtle and poetic aspects of movement. I’ve learned that even a simple plié, performed beside a tree while invoking the right imagery, can open us to a sense of infinity.
Info
Choreography and dance: Serena Zanconato
Video Rajan Craveri
Music (extract from Oratorio Virtuale) – Alberto Barberis
Video dance
From years, with Rajan Craveri, I devoted myself creating works of video dance and digital art related to natural and architectural contexts.
Among her works of video dance, there are:
My lines
Finalist in the competition “The dance in one minute”. What I have loved of this little piece is the team, so kind and gentle in their collaboration.
Choreography for an impossible place
One of the winners of the call “Campo Largo”, which was selected for different countries’ festivalsThis work was born with a little newborn, not at all sleepy, in my arms—whom I was surely inspired by for her blessed and enchanting grace.
Solouno
Illustrated by Beppe Giacobbe and exhibited at the Museum of Science in Milan.
What I hold in my heart about this work are the people who were moved and touched while watching it.