The great étoile celebrates International Dance Day
Celebrating International Dance Day means remembering that this art is much more than an expressive form: it is a universal language, a school of life, a bridge between people and the deepest emotions. As Martha Graham stated: “Dance is the hidden language of the soul.”
Dance belongs to everyone, but it has a special value for young people. In an era in which points of reference and spaces for aggregation are often lacking, and in which the virtual risks replacing the “here and now”, distancing emotions from the body, dance recomposes what has separated: it reconnects body and soul, presence and feeling.
The spirit chases the music and the body responds, asking to be there, to participate in this journey. But dance is not just an individual experience: it is an encounter. We dance together, learning to look at each other, touch each other, expect, reach each other, creating authentic connections.
At the same time, it teaches fundamental principles: respect, discipline, commitment and attention to detail. Every step requires concentration, every mistake becomes an opportunity for growth. It is a true school of life, capable of training not only artists, but aware, determined and continually improving people.
It is with this spirit that I chose to create a Foundation which bears my name, with the aim of introducing young people, especially in schools, to dance and its values. Educating through art means contributing to building a better society.
Today more than ever, dance is essential. We live immersed in screens, where relationships are filtered and emotions are attenuated. In this context, the live show becomes an authentic experience: entering the theater, getting involved with those who dance or act, means rediscovering empathy and a sense of belonging.
Dance is also part of our cultural heritage, a legacy that tells who we are.
As recalled by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella — who I am grateful for having invited me to perform on the occasion of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Republic on June 2nd — «art and culture are essential common goods, pillars of social cohesion and the identity of the country». And I am also honored that dance was chosen to open the Cantieri dell’Immaginario of L’Aquila, Italian Capital of Culture 2026.
My commitment on this occasion too will be to translate into movement the strength of this land to look to the future, preserving its memory.
To young people I want to say: find your passion and cultivate it with dedication. Difficulties are part of the journey, but it is precisely these that give value to what you do.
In a time marked by the risk of apathy, passion is the most authentic response. In my journey I deeply feel the responsibility of the role I play and I try every day to interpret it to the best of my ability. I hope, with my example, to be able to inspire young people to believe in their dreams, to cultivate their passions and to find in dance and art a guide to becoming what they wish to be.
Dance is not an escape from the world, but the highest way to remain present to ourselves and others. It is our response to the silence of indifference: a grammar of bodies which, between memory and the future, contributes to writing the choreography of a more human and more aware society every day.
