Matteo Marfoglia, Artistic Director and Programme Lead for VERVE – NSCD’s award-winning postgraduate company - recently visited Geneva to collaborate with Ballet Junior de Genève on the restaging of The Garden by KOR’SIA.
Each year, VERVE commissions an international mix of choreographers to craft an innovative programme of new works, which precedes an international tour.
In 2023, VERVE commissioned KOR’SIA to create The Garden. Drawing inspiration from Victor Hugo's concept of the garden as "sometimes impenetrable like a forest, yet populated like a city," choreographers Antonio de Rosa and Mattia Russo envisioned it as a synesthetic space where senses converge and distinctions fade.
Through bodily expression, performers initially construct a uniform landscape that gradually evolves, simultaneously uniting and separating, blurring and defining boundaries. Each scene unfolds as a physical dialogue that unveils sensorial pleasures without judgment, crafting a space of equality, a dimension where everything remains to be discovered.
Matteo Marfoglia commented: “This was really exciting as it marks the first instance of a VERVE-commissioned and produced work being restaged by another company. It’s a wonderful opportunity for wider audiences to experience our work and for other performers to bring it to a new life by making it their own. Continuing to garner exposure and awareness for VERVE in many forms and opportunities is important, and I’m really pleased to have been involved in this project.”
Ballet Junior de Genève consists of around forty student dancers, aged 17 to 23, from the advanced levels of the Ecole de Danse de Genève. As part of their training, BJG consistently builds connections with the professional world, fostering direct interactions with active artists. Each season, the company prepares multiple dance programs, which are showcased both in Switzerland and internationally.
