An artistic identity that has quickly become one of the most recognizable and bold in the European scene: Kor’sia is the Italo-Spanish collective founded in 2015 by Antonio de Rosa and Mattia Russo, along with Giuseppe Dagostino and in collaboration with Agnès López-Río. The name evokes both the kórē, an archetypal figure of ancient Greek art, and the idea of a “trail” or “scene” in motion – an image of body and memory imprinted in time and space. In Madrid, where the company is currently based, Kor’sia began a journey of choreographic creation that blends movement, dramaturgy, and visual arts in works that powerfully question contemporary experience. With Simulacro, presented for the first time in Italy, Kor’sia addresses the increasingly ambiguous tension between reality and artifice, between physicality and image in the age of hyperconnectivity. It is a choreographic reflection on the crisis of perception and the identity of the body, continuing the collective’s recent efforts to redefine the language of dance. We met with them to explore the genesis of the performance and their vision of the contemporary scene.

The identity, politics, and art of a collective.
The identity of Kor’sia is, above all, fluid and constantly evolving. It arises from the meeting of diverse experiences – choreographic, visual, theoretical, and performative – that find strength in their differences. We do not seek aesthetic uniformity but a common thought nourished by daily dialogue, doubt, and the coexistence of multiple perspectives. Kor’sia was born in Madrid because it is where we came together to work after years of different paths as dancers. Today, it has become a living organism, continuously transforming, using dance as a tool to question the present and stimulate the audience’s critical gaze. Being a collective is both an artistic and political choice for us. In a time marked by individualism and competitiveness, choosing to create together, sharing responsibilities and visions, is a form of resistance. It is a stance against traditional hierarchical structures and an affirmation of the kind of world we want to inhabit: one based on listening, trust, and shared responsibility.

A classical education for a hybrid, modern language.
Our classical training at the Scala Theatre academy in Milan has been fundamental: it provided us with a grammar, discipline, and above all, a deep respect for the body and daily work. However, over time, we felt the need to go beyond those codes, seeking a language that truly reflects our present and the complexity within us. Today, our language is hybrid, continuously evolving, built from everything we have been and are: experiences, encounters, doubts, and memories. It’s as if we carry a backpack full of personal and collective experiences that transforms into choreographic material each time. We do not reject tradition – we engage with it, question it, and sometimes subvert it, attempting to make it converse with the urgencies of our time. Italy has instilled in us a strong sense of rigor, beauty, and harmony. Yet, perhaps in contrast, it has also given us the impulse to seek new, less conservative, and freer models. It has been a solid foundation but also a push towards the elsewhere.

Empathy, materiality, and physical presence in choreography.
Today, being physically present takes on an almost revolutionary value. In an era dominated by dematerialization and virtuality, the real body – with its imperfections, sweat, and effort – represents the last space to experience an irreplaceable authenticity. Empathy arises in the smallest gestures: in the glance that meets another gaze, in the hand that lightly brushes another’s skin. It is not just an emotion but a deep, silent connection that transcends words. Matter, with its tangible weight, grounds us, restoring the concrete dimension of existence. The body, first an image and then living flesh, seeks its truth in the fragility that makes it human. For us, this return to the earth ultimately signifies a return to the body: our most natural root, to be rediscovered and reconnected in an increasingly digital world.

The challenge of shaping the scene.
The main challenge has been to keep the body at the centre, despite the extensive use of technology. We live in a hyperconnected yet often disembodied era: technology permeates every space, risking the disappearance of the body, its physicality, and its tangible presence. In Simulacro, we sought a delicate balance: video is a powerful element that, if used carelessly, can overshadow the bodies. Therefore, we worked to ensure that the body remains alive, real, and present, even within virtual or conceptual landscapes. The use of technology should never replace emotion but rather amplify and accompany it, creating a harmonious dialogue.

The role of art, and dance in particular, in a time of indifference, conflict, and intolerance.
For us, art does not aim to provide answers but to generate questions, to open spaces for reflection and imagination. Dance, in particular, possesses something profoundly powerful: it speaks through the body, and for this reason, it transcends linguistic, cultural, and social barriers. It is a primordial, universal language that touches without the need for explanation. We believe that dance is, at its core, a political act. Not so much for what it asserts, but for what it makes us feel. In an era that tends to make us distracted, insensitive, and anesthetized, the live, vulnerable, tangible experience of the body on stage brings us back to the essential. Perhaps today, the most radical and necessary gesture is precisely this: coming together in a theatre to share an experience that occurs in the present, among bodies that expose themselves, listen, and breathe together.

Featured image: Kor’sia – Photo Paul Rodriguez