Borders

Based on an idea conceived by Enrico Bettinello, together with Balletto di Roma and Novara Jazz Festival, Borders explores the interaction between two musicians and a dancer in an original combination of jazz improvisation and contemporary dance.
The project pursues an initiative commenced by Daniele Ninarello and Dan Kinzelman (whose work debuted in June 2016 at the Venice Biennale directed by Virgilio Sieni) and continues Novara Jazz Festival’s research into the relationship between jazz and contemporary dance. The result is a multidisciplinary exploration of the way in which these two arts can pursue new directions and embrace new audiences.
Balletto di Roma’s role in the tailor-made initiative is to bring contemporary dance closer to the public at large through the creation of choreographies for unexpected contexts and settings.
Under the guidance of Enrico Bettinello, the 2017 stage of the project will involve three young artists: Roberta Racis, choreographer and dancer of Balletto di Roma; Francesco Diodati, guitarist; and Ermanno Baron, drummer.

Born in Cagliari in 1990, Roberta Racis commenced her study of classical and contemporary dance in her Sardinian hometown, before completing her training in mainland Italy, Portugal and Belgium.
Having perfected her studies at Balletto di Toscana, Florence, where she performed Tiziana Bolfe Briaschi’s La quiete apparente (finalist of the Premio Equilibrio 2015) as part of the Prove d’Autore initiative of the Anticorpi XL network, she was chosen for an internship at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the direction of Davide Bombana and participated in the College Danza Biennale under the direction of Virgilio Sieni as performer of Cristina Rizzo’s Bolero Variations.
In Portugal she performed in Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo’s production of Vasco Wellenkamp’s Fado, a co-production by CPBC and Internationaal Danstheater (Netherlands) ranked by Dance Europe magazine as one of the best productions of 2013. Moving to Belgium, she widened the scope of her contemporary ballet training at La Raffinerie/Charleroi Danse and DansCentrum Jette directed by Roxane Huilmand.
Roberta Racis has worked with numerous choreographers including Nicholas Rowe, Amanda Xue Hai, Sandra Anais, Goran Bogdanovski and Natalia Vallebona. In July 2015 she performed together with Fabio Novembrini as one of the ‘dance-writers’ of Dance Raids Feltre for Operaestate Festival Veneto and their performance SHELTER was included in the Vetrina GD’A showcase in Ravenna in September 2016. She has been a member of Balletto di Roma since November 2015.

Inspired by tradition, but nevertheless open to the new ideas of contemporary music, rock and folk, Francesco Diodati has developed a personal guitar style which combines a spontaneous approach to melody with an acoustic sound enhanced by a brilliant use of electronics and effects.
As leader of Neko, whose other members are Francesco Bigoni, Carlo Conti, Francesco Ponticelli and Ermanno Baron, he has recorded two albums for AUAND Records, and since 2014 he has been a member of the New Quartet, led by trumpeter Enrico Rava, with whom he also plays in duo. Since 2010, he has performed in numerous concerts throughout Europe and Asia as a member of the ambitious MyanmarMeetsEurope project, an initiative focusing on the fusion of European and Birman music, led by German composer and double bassist Tim Isfort and supported by the Goethe Institute. Since 2013, he has collaborated on a regular basis with southern Italian singer-songwriter Erica Mou.
He has played at both national and international level as part of the Marcello Allulli Trio, the Franco-Italian Travelers led by Matteo Bortone, Abhra led by Julian Pontvianne, Bobby Previte Plutino, various ensembles led by Roman singer Ada Montellanico, Contemporary Five led by Gaetano Partipilo and a group led by Simona Severini. In 2013 and 2014 he was voted Guitarist of the Year by the readers of JazzIt music magazine.

Ermanno Baron studied classical percussion with Giordano Rebecchi, developing a typically European approach to the technical and musical specificities of the discipline. Continuing his studies with Claudio Mastracci and Ettore Fioravanti, he participated in various international drum clinics and in 2004 won a grant to study advanced jazz at Siena Jazz University, where he developed a personal modern jazz style inspired by Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Jack deJohnette, Brian Blade, Jeff Ballard. In Italy he has performed with jazz musicians of the calibre of Flavio Boltro, Rosario Giuliani, Ada Montellanico, Aldo Bassi, Andy Gravish, Henry Cook, Famoudou Don Moye, Marco Tamburini, Francesco Bigoni, Danielle di Majo, Giovanni Ceccarelli, Aldo Vigorito, Antonello Sorrentino, Paolo Recchia, Marco Piccirillo, Dan Kinzelman, Andy Pietropaolo, Francesco Ponticelli, Francesco Diodati and Marta Raviglia. He has performed at such leading jazz events as Tremplin Jazz d’Avignon, Padova suona Jazz, Jammin’ Auditorium Parco della Musica, Young Jazz in Town, ArteMusica, Policoro Jazz Fest, Archi in Jazz, Pescara Jazz and Mito Settembre in Musica, Milan.