After two years of forced break due to the pandemic, from 3 to 10 July, the City of Caves returns to the forefront of the international dance scene, becoming a global village with a cosmopolitan feel thanks to the 12th edition of the "WDM The International Festival".
In the setting of the municipal villa heels, from July 7 to 10, 2022, four delightful evenings of dance entertainment to enjoy the beauty and positive energy released by the performances of talented young dancers, an expression of a joyful international melting pot.
During the “WDM The International FestivalCastellana Grotte is transformed into an open-air stage animated by numerous performers from around the world. This edition features 19 countries, including the United States, Canada, South Africa, Estonia, France, Russia, Belgium, New Zealand, and of course Italy, for a total of 260 interns.
Since its debut over 10 years ago, World Dance Movement has attracted the attention of industry professionals as a prestigious summer event of extraordinary quality in terms of artistic entertainment and performance value. It offers many young and promising dancers the opportunity to enhance their experience through participation in workshops, whose high-quality training is ensured by a partnership with the renowned Broadway Dance Center from New York and world-famous choreographers who boast artistic collaborations at the highest levels of global show business.
This edition also features the participation of choreographers and teachers who represent the excellence of the cosmopolitan dance scene, first and foremost WDM co-founder Michele Assaf, followed by Bruno Collinet, Vito Cassano and Claudia Cavalli, Joshua Pelasky, Sabatino d'Eustacchio and Federica Angelozzi, Elias Lazaridis, Rosellina Goffredo, Nicola Monaco, and Fabrizio Prolli for classes in classical, modern, contemporary, and area dance.
A big new feature this year is the inclusive lessons for disabled children at the association “Bloom Anyway” held by Patrizia Cribiori and Stefania Belotti who offer lessons not only in dance but also in music therapy for both children of “Bloom Anyway”, both for members of the association “Equally Artists” who will reach Puglia from the province of Milan to take part in the WDM for the first time.
A project with a strong inclusive value, because dance is an ancestral language that, far beyond reason, speaks through emotions and sensations, capable of expressing the joy of life, but also pain, expressed through the body, but also through the eyes and the soul. Supporting the universal right to artistic expression, while fully respecting everyone's diversity as an added value to multicultural humanity, this new WDM project expresses its essence, which is grounded in the capacity for exchange and acceptance through the art of dance.
Even in this edition there will be no shortage of important opportunities for professional growth with the auditions for theKataklò Academy of Milan and for the cruise ship Royal Caribbean.
The main sponsor of the 2022 edition is Grotte di Castellana srl, whose generous support is crucial to the realization of the event in the municipal park. The Board of Directors of the in-house company of the municipality of Castellana has recognized the importance of the WDM International Festival in terms of promoting tourism in the City of Castellana and supporting the economic activities of the sector, giving life to a profitable partnership.
The opening night in the municipal villa is Thursday July 7 with the aerial dance show “With You Mimmo"By the Eleina D Company Choreographed by Vito Cassano. A tribute to Mimmo Daoli, founder and former President of WDM, whose gentle and reassuring ability to construct and bring together has distinguished his life's work, making him a mentor to many young men and women who, in his vision of art as a blend of expressions and languages that intertwine to create new forms, have found a dimension and a path to follow.
Following this, Friday the 8th will be the turn of the WDM Gala which will see all the dancers from the workshop on stage, while Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th are finally the evenings dedicated to dance competitions.
Four inspiring evenings in which dance becomes a vehicle for harmony among people, a symbol of peaceful coexistence, an expression of multiculturalism as an opportunity and respect for diversity, a living expression of grace and beauty, youth and vigor, zest for life and planning—everything we all need after the pandemic crisis.
