Raffaella Giordano‚ was born in Turin in 1961.
She begins studying dance in 1978 with C. Perotti at Teatro Nuovo of Torino, and, for a short period, with A. Sagna at the Bella Hutter School of Turin.
In 1980 she joins Carolyn Carlson’s Company Teatro e Danza La Fenice of Venice‚ and participates as interpreter in the pieces Undici Onde‚ Underwood and Chalkwork.
In 1981 she dances with Pina Bausch’s Company‚ Wuppertal Tanztheater‚ as interpreter in the pieces Kontakthof‚ Blaubart and Le Sacre du Printemps.
In 1984 she works in Paris with the company L’Esquisse‚ directed by Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia‚ participating in the creation of the piece Vertée for Festival di Carpentras. The same year‚ she takes part as co-founder of Sosta Palmizi company‚ in which she works‚ as dancer and choreographer‚ for the pieces Il Cortile (1985)‚ Tufo (1986)‚ Perduti una notte (1989).
In 1987 she signs her first individual choreographic work‚ Ssst… for seven dancers‚ co−produced by Bois de la Bâtie of Geneva.
In 1988 she creates the chorographical movements for the opera Rosamunde‚ directed by L. Codignola at La Fenice of Venice and in 1991‚ for the piece La Medea di Porta Medina‚ directed by A. Pugliese.
In 1989 she begin her collaboration as choreographer for the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, where she creates the work Inuit for the same company under the direction of Pina Bausch, and again in 1995 the performance Il volto di Aria.
In 1990 she takes part as a dancer in the piece Il Muro‚ directed by Pippo Del Bono and co−produced by Oriente−Occidente Rovereto Festival and Asti Festival.
Still in 1990 the group of dancers who founded Company Sosta Palmizi is dissolved‚ but Raffaella Giordano and Giorgio Rossi still keep in life Sosta Palmizi to produce their performances; in 1995‚ Sosta Palmizi is reconstituted as Cultural Association‚ directed by G. Rossi and R. Giordano.
In the same year, 1990, she receives the Prize of the Critics “Danza&Danza” as best interpreter of new italian contemporary dance.
In 1991 together with Antonio Carallo‚ Tobia Ercolino and Bruno de’ Franceschi‚ R. Giordano creates the work Vedere Voci‚ which was presented at Parma Teatro 2 Festival.
In 1992‚ she presents in Reggio Emilia the piece for six dancers I Forestieri‚ co−produced by Centro della Danza of Reggio Emilia‚ Ass. I Teatri and Teatro Comunale di Cagli (PS):
The same year‚ she signs the choreography and interprets the solo L’Azzurro Necessario‚ co-produced by Polverigi Festival.
In 1993‚ she is invited by the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine d’Anger directed by the company L’Equisse to create the choreography Du Doute et de la Certitude‚ for second years students.
In 1994‚ with Giorgio Rossi‚ at Festival Torino Danza, they presents the piece Danze Rosa Blu for seven dancers.
In Summer 1995‚ together with Giorgio Rossi‚ and after having reunited Sosta Palmizi to Cultural Association‚ she takes part at the Dance International Marathon presented for the XXXVIII Festival dei due Mondi di Spoleto‚ dancing fragments from the choreographic work Il Cortile; on August‚ together with the same group and with the same choreography‚ Il Cortile‚ she takes part in Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie Stealing Beauty.
In 1995 she creates a new solo‚ Fiordalisi‚ produced in collaboration with the Festival Segni Barocchi of Foligno.
On January 1996 she is invited as guest choreographer at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine L’Esquisse d’Angers to create her new piece …et anima mea…‚ for six dancers.
On March 1997 she creates a short solo Maze‚ a homage to Isadora Duncan‚ on occasion of the meeting The living heritage of Isadora Duncan organized by the University of Bologna ⁄ Music and Performing Arts Department.
Between 1997 and 1999 she collaborates with contemporary music and jazz musicians‚ like L. Brusci‚ L. Mingiardi‚ R. Bonati and P. Damiani.
In 1998 she creates the choreographies for the new quartet La Notte Trasfigurata and for the solo Il Canto della Colomba ‚ on the music of A. Schönberg (“Die verklaerte Nacht”‚ op. n° 4 and “Das Lied der Waldtaube ⁄ Gurrelieder”)‚ in collaboration with Teatro Kismet Opera of Bari.
On July 1999 she presents at Festival Sipario Ducale of Cagli the work for four interpreters Quore. Per un lavoro in divenire supported by the C.N.D.C. l’Esquisse of Angers.
On May 2001 she creates for the Pecci Museo in Prato the short solo ⁄performance Per una Stanza‚ presented on May at the International Festival Contemporanea 01.
On March 2002 she presents in preview at Teatro Solvay in Castiglioncello the creation for eight dancers Senza Titolo ‚ and on June 21th in absolute première at Teatro Ariosto in Reggio Emilia and it is supported and co-produced in France, Marseilles, l’Officina Atelier Marseillais de Production and Théâtre des Bernardines, Parigi Théâtre de la Bastille and in Italy Fondazione Emilia Romagna Teatro, Reggio Emilia Danza, Armunia Festival, Fondazione Teatro Metastasio di Prato.
In 2003 she collaborates with the writer Alessandro Baricco on writing the movements for the “City Reading Project – Nine Nights‚ Hundred Pages” for the Festival RomaEuropa‚ Teatro Valle in Rome.
In 2005‚ she goes back to the international stage with the solo Tu non mi perderai mai‚ on music by L. Brusci‚ freely inspired by the Song of Songs; the piece is presented on August‚ in preview at the International Dance Encounters Nairobi and on September 13th‚ in premiere at the Festival Internazionale di Performing Arts UOVO in Milan, in a co-production with Officina Atelier Marseillais de Production.
On March 2007‚ she presents in première at the Théâtre Garonne‚ Toulouse‚ the new performance for seven interpreters Cuocere il mondo; the work has its origins in Leonardo’s Last Supper and is co−produced by Théâtre Garonne‚ Toulouse − Théâtre Les Bernardines‚ Marseille − Teatro comunale di Modena Fondazione − Festival delle Colline Torinesi.
In January 2009, Raffaella comes with the solo Ama Fì, dedicated to the world of adolescence, specifically created for the Teatro Signorelli of Cortona, with the participation of the choreographer and dancer Michele Abbondanza.
In October, she dedicates A te to the great choreographer disappeared, a brief solo presented in Siena at the Teatro Rinnovati during the evening homage to Pina Bausch.
In 2010 she collaborates with Mario Martone in setting up the choreographic movements for the scenes of the nightmare of Mazzini, in the film Noi credevamo.
In 2011 she performs the role of the Angel in the show Caino produced by Teatro Valdoca, directed by Cesare Ronconi, texts Mariangela Gualtieri, national premiere on January 13 at the Fonderie Limone del Teatro Stabile di Torino.
In 2012 Raffaella Giordano begins a choreographic path with the dancer and choreographer Maria Muñoz co-director along with Pep Ramis of the Spanish company Mal Pelo based in Girona. L’Incontro made its opening in the month of December 2013 at the Théâtre des Bernardines in Marseille, capital of Culture 2013.
In the fall of 2013 she takes part in the movie Il giovane favoloso directed by Mario Martone in the role of Adelaide Antici, Giacomo Leopardi’s mother, a production Palomar and Rai Cinema with the contribution of Fondazione Cinema Multimedia-Marche Film Commission and of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.
In 2015 she works as coreographer and dancer in the project Pour le reste on verrà by Mireille Guerre, presente on aprile 2015 at Théâtre des Bernardines di Marsiglia, produced by Théâtre des Bernardines in collaboration with Habitat Alternatif Social.
The collaboration with the director Mario Martone, continues with the realization of the choreographic movements for the Macbeth Opera that has debuted the 4th of May 2015 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elisées in Paris. In the summer of the same year, she participates with L’Incontro at Festival Nous, la lune et les voisins, in Libanon, organized by Kahraba Collective, a multidisiplinary festival, an unique opportunity of meeting and collaboration between many lebenes and europeans artists.
In the same year, persists the collaboration with the director Mario Martone for the realization of the choreographic movements of the Opera The Bassarids, music by Hans Werner Henze, serious opera in one act Libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman from Le Baccanti di Euripide with debut in November 2015 at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma winner of the XXXV Abbiati Prize.
In 2016 she does the choreographies of Calderón by Pier Paolo Pasolini directed by Federico Tiezzi, production Theatre of Rome and Fondazione Teatro della Toscana, winner of the UBU Prize 2016 as best direction.
On September and October 2016 she is the protagonist in the film L’Intrusa directed by Leonardo Di Costanzo, presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2017. On April 2018 she receives the NuovoIMAIE award as new actress at Bif&st 2018 – Bari International Film Festival.
Raffaella Giordano concludes 2016 curating the choreographic movements for the Sancta Susanna by Paul Hindemith at the Opera Bastille in Paris, directed by Mario Martone and the direction of Carlo Rizzi.
From August 2017 she’s involved as choreographer in the film Capri-Batterie directed by Martone, out in 2018.
In the autumn 2017 she presents, within Autunno Danza in Cagliari, the debut of her latest solo work dedicated to Nature Celeste,appunti per natura. Piano music by A. Annecchino and sound elaborations by L. Brusci.
In the two-year period 020/021, she accompanied, collaborating in the creation of their respective projects, the artists: Elisa Pol/Nerval Teatro, in the work Walking memories, winner of the ERT- Spettacolo in Emilia Romagna Performing Arts under 40 competition and Fabiana Ruiz Diaz/Circo El Grito, in the solo LiminaL. She also participates in the early stages of research for Fine by Olimpia Fortuni, which was started as part of the project for the internationalisation of Italian contemporary dance RoundTrip, financed by the Boarding Pass Plus 2019 announcement of the Mibact, which in autumn 024 will make its debut at the Danae Festival in Milan.
In 2022 she acts in the figure of the housekeeper in The New Woman, movie directed by Léa Todorov -Production Geko Films (FR) / Tempesta (IT), about the life of Maria Montessori.
In 2024, with the young choreographer and author Stefania Tansini, she begins a process of reconstruction and transmission of the 2005 performance Tu non mi perderai mai solo, freely ‘inspired’ by the “Cantico dei cantici”. The work, premiered at La danza che muove (Arezzo, March 2024), will see its debut at FOG Triennale Milano Performing Arts in spring 2025.
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Mentions and awards:
Critical prize DANZA&DANZA 1990 as best performer of the new italian dance.
In June 1999 Raffaella Giordano received for the second time the prize of the critics DANZA&DANZA, as the best dancer and choreographer of the Italian season “For the maturity of language and the expressive impact of her last performance La Notte trasfigurata – Il Canto della Colomba on music by A. Schoenberg”.
In July 1999 the GARDADANZA prize for contemporary Italian dance, as best performance 1998, for La Notte trasfigurata – Il Canto della Colomba.
In 2000 she was awarded the UBU special prize “for having cast with her Quore for a work in progress, a critical eye on reality and more generally for the courage and intensity of the choreographic choices she has made in her dance-theater beyond dance”.
In 2018 she received the Nuovo IMAIE award from the jury chaired by Giancarlo De Cataldo, as a revelation actress for the film L’intrusa directed by Leonardo di Costanzo, within the Bif&st 2018 – section first and second works Bari International Film Festival, “for an elegant, intense and measured performance, able to express a deep pietas without hiding the harshness of reality as it happens in life.”
