L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 2023 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY T he Urban The- ory dance group first flew to LA in t h e s u m m e r o f 2018 to partici- p a t e i n t h e W o r l d o f D a n c e , the world's most famous urban dance compe- tition, presented by Jennifer Lopez and broadcast on the American channel NBC. This year they came back to take p a r t a g a i n , t h i s t i m e a s guests of honor. Five years later, the six dancers from Sanremo, Liguria, boast 20.3 million followers on TikTok, 3.5 billion views, and more t h a n 3 0 0 m i l l i o n l i k e s between Facebook, Insta- gram, and TikTok. Their sig- nature style is tutting, a con- temporary dance technique where dancers create geo- metric positions and rectan- gular movements with their arms and fingers. T h e m e m b e r s o f t h e g r o u p , J e s s i c a D e M a r i a , Fabiano Paglieri, Leonardo Sigona, Riccardo Marano, L o r e n z o P i a n t o n i , a n d Davide Sala, were the first Italian dancers ever to dance as guests at the US competi- tion, which started in 2008. "If they had told us this five years ago, we would not have believed it," they tell me dur- ing our meeting in Los Ange- les. Y o u r n a m e c o m e s after your dance school in Sanremo where you guys met and where Jes- s i c a D e M a r i a , t h e f o u n d e r o f t h e g r o u p , was a teacher. Tell me about your debut. Jessica De Maria: when we first came to America, our name was Calypso and we were still immature, in a way. From that experience, we decided to participate in the show Italia's Got Tal- e n t . W e w a n t e d t o c r e a t e something different and that m a d e u s s t a n d o u t f r o m other hip-hop dancers. One of the members of the group, Davide, already had a pas- sion for tutting, and suggest- e d w e f o c u s o n t h a t . T h e intention was to get some TV experience and show some- thing different but it ended up exceeding all our expecta- tions! Not only did we get the Golden Buzzer from Fed- erica Pellegrini but we also got good feedback from the audience. We realized we were on the right path. A n d w h a t h a p p e n e d after that? Lorenzo Piantoni: after t h a t , s h o w m a n F i o r e l l o called us as he wanted us in the cast of Viva RaiPlay! We w e r e i n R o m e f o r t h r e e months and it was kind of our first work experience. B e f o r e w e w e r e d a n c e r s touring our art around, but after Fiorello we started to see dancing as a real career. Then, with Covid, everything stopped. How did you deal with this forced hiatus? Jessica De Maria: at first there was a kind of ... bewil- d e r m e n t , a s f o r e v e r y o n e else. However, during quar- antine, we had more time on our hands and we decided to invest more in social media also because, at that time, TikTok was exploding. After a couple of months, one of our videos went viral and that started everything. How was approaching tutting like, dance-wise? Lorenzo Piantoni: it was quite easy because we had a base of hip hop already, and a good amount of body and movement knowledge any- w a y . O v e r t i m e , w e improved a lot. Now, when we look at the first appear- a n c e o n I t a l i a ' s G o t Talent we laugh. Jessica De Maria: the spe- cial thing about tutting is that there is a whole mental process behind it because you have to focus on main- taining energy. It's a very precise style and, as a group, you have to learn to synchro- nize. How many hours do you rehearse? Lorenzo Piantoni: when we are in Italy we see each other almost every day. We are not tightly set on train- ing, every day we try to fig- ure out what's on the agen- da. But there is always time spent in front of the mirror practicing new choreogra- phies and brainstorming ses- sions about how to set up v i d e o s a n d m a n a g e o u r social media. We also meet clients and collaborators. What did you expect from your latest trip to America? Fabiano Paglieri: we knew we would meet many cre- ators but we had also said to ourselves, "We are in Los Angeles, it's summer, we will be able to relax." Never hap- pened! We worked so hard. Everyone here is going one hundred miles an hour so it was a little traumatic at first. In Sanremo, you live the life of a small town. Jessica De Maria: the nice thing is that, here, it's a bit like we found our own kind. In Italy, it is more difficult to find realities related to the same art form, and the men- tality is different. Here, cre- ators look for you, they reach out, they make proposals. Imagine that we met some of the people we ended up col- laborating with randomly in the street! We shot videos, which are still unreleased, with creators very far from us from an artistic point of view. Now we are happy to c o m e b a c k t o I t a l y a n d metabolize what we did here over a nice pizza. Lorenzo Piantoni: what surprised me the most was that, while we were making videos on the Walk of Fame a n d i n V e n i c e B e a c h , s o m a n y p e o p l e s t o p p e d u s because they recognized us a n d a s k e d f o r a p i c t u r e . Something that has never happened to us in Italy! In fact, the countries where we a r e m o s t f a m o u s a r e t h e United States, Brazil and India. Italy is in fifth place. What excited you the most? Fabiano Paglieri: meeting new people and collaborate with artists we have been following for a long time, such as Derek Hough, Hay- ley Erbert, and Aubrey Fish- er. W i t h t h e l a t t e r , y o u made a tribute video for Michael Jackson. How did the idea come about? Fabiano Paglieri: Ricky is the one who made it happen as he's a big Michael Jackson f a n . W e r e l e a s e d a v i d e o with another American cre- ator, Aubrey Fisher, on Jack- s o n ' s b i r t h d a y . F o r t h i s video, we created everything, even the musical basis of one of his songs, Beat It. By the way, Riccardo was the first of the group to perform on TV, precisely because of his passion for Michael Jackson. As a child, he was invited to dance on RAI shows with his sister. You went back to your h o m e t o w n , S a n r e m o , where you opened your n e w s t u d i o . W h y t h i s choice instead of going t o a b i g E u r o p e a n o r N o r t h A m e r i c a n capital? Lorenzo Piantoni: it was not even a choice, it hap- pened naturally. We never even felt the need to move to M i l a n , w h e r e w e g o v e r y o f t e n f o r w o r k , b e c a u s e being successful on social m e d i a a l l o w s y o u t o b e everywhere. Fabiano Paglieri: that stu- dio will be our base of opera- t i o n s . B u t w e l i v e w i t h a packed suitcase though! We are quite nomadic. D o y o u h a v e o t h e r p r o j e c t s g o i n g o n i n Italy? Jessica De Maria: yes, we have a project called Black Widow, an all-women dance group for which we choreo- graph. Then, there is always the dance school I opened b a c k i n t h e d a y a n d w h o knows, maybe it will churn out more talents. The Urban theory dance group in Los Angeles (Photo courtesy of Urban Theory) "Urban Theory" Italian dancers are guests of honor at the World of Dance SILVIA NITTOLI

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