09/16/2024 MEMORARE’24: dance and sing for the peace.

Memorare’24: “I return to Italy and dance for peace” – Jacopo Tissi, étoile in Amsterdam, in Bologna to raise funds for Ukrainians and Palestinians.

“I could never disregard being Italian, even if today my career is in Amsterdam. But I don’t know yet if, in the new season, I will return to La Scala or the Rome Opera.” Jacopo Tissi is already at work in the rehearsal halls of the Dutch National Ballet: for the past year he has been its “principal dancer,” after having been ètoile at the Bolshoi in Moscow, from which he left at the outbreak of war.

A brief return home, however, is planned for Sept. 16 when, in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, he will dance among the stars of the evening “Memorare’24: dance and song for peace,” preparatory to the Jubilee 2025promoted by the Church, the City Council and the Teatro Comunale of Bologna. The brainchild of Vittoria Cappelli, the gala, featuring the Comunale Orchestra, raises funds for Caritas to support Ukrainian refugees and Palestinian populations. War, transition, peace are the themes that inspire the evening, embodied by pacifist Tissi in his personal story: “at a time when conflicts tear apart multiple points on the planet,” he says, “it is essential that dance, song and music convey harmony. Art is neither flag nor weapon. It is peaceful sharing.”

Fate has played a key role in the étoile’s life: “I believe in God in my own way. Destiny is a high drawing, but I couldn’t tell who the pencil is, maybe God, maybe not.”

In Bologna, she will dance the Adagio from the white act of “Giselle” paired with Georgian Maia Makhateli. It was in “Giselle,” which was broadcast in vision mode last January, that Tissa enjoyed planetary success with Olga Smirnova and the Amsterdam HNB: “I received messages on Instagram from Colombia, from Asia, from Oceania. Impressive: at the same time they are looking at you from Mexico and from the opposite latitude. That’s the positive side of new technologies.”

In February he will turn 30, an age that opens a new life cycle for a dancer: not just virtuosity and technique, but interpretive depth. “Age is awareness. For my 29, I have already had strong experiences to draw on when I am on stage. The physique changes, while a maturity grows that makes one freer to explore new roles. In the new season in Amsterdam I will dance for the first time “Four Schumann Pieces,” which Hans van Manen centered on the charisma of the male figure for such legends as Anthony Dowell and Nureyev. And I will make my debut in “Don Quixote,” which is quite a challenge.” Tisi is very different from the stereotype of the Italian abroad: “The Dutch recognize in me the Italian idea of elegance, the sense of beauty, values that are much appreciated abroad than in Italy.”

A dancer’s career hangs by a thread: “The specter of injury is the greatest fear for a dancer,” he confesses. Through a trivial accident in the rehearsal room in Amsterdam at the beginning of the year, I experienced what it means to stop for months because of a metatarsal injury. I was lucky because the Dutch National Theater has an in-house team of doctors and physiotherapists. The forced stop prompted me to reflect: getting in shape takes humility and resilience, you have to reset your body. But dancing is not a profession, it is a deep passion that gives meaning to life.”

Hotel Roma sponsors MEMORARE’24