Cannibalizing Italian-ness: Salvo Lombardo’s Anti-Colonial Choreography
Abstract
Renewed Italian nationalism is a legacy of the imperial and colonial imageries that were central to the construction of the Italian nation in 1861. These are embodied in a trilogy of ballets choreographed by Luigi Manzotti: Gran Ballo Excelsior, Amor, and Sport. Contemporary choreographer Salvo Lombardo subverts such imageries in his twenty-first-century contemporary dance trilogy: Excelsior, AMOЯ, and Sport. Moving beyond current readings of Lombardo’s trilogy as a reenactment of Manzotti’s originals, this study proposes a reading grounded in cannibal metaphysics as a relational politics with otherness and cultural anthropophagy as an anti-colonial method of creation.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Arts and Performance Studies
Theatre and Performance Studies
Diversity and Impact of Dance
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Dance Chronicle
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1–24
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN