Francesca Santamaria
Residency from 25 to 27 August 2025
C32 performing art work space - Forte Marghera, Mestre Venezia
GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort)
Photo by Michela Grandolfo
CREDITS:
Concept and performance by Francesca Santamaria
Dramaturgical collaboration by Pietro Angelini
Sound dramaturgy and live set by Ramingo
Lighting by Fabrizio Cicero
Styling by Elena Luca
Costume design by Vittorio Gargiuolo
Movement coaching by Beatrice Pozzi
Technical direction by Giovanni Di Capua
Design collaboration by Rossella Piazzese
Production by Codeduomo ETS / Perypezye Urbane ETS
In co-production with Romaeuropa Festival
In collaboration with TIR Danza
With the support of Operaestate Festival Veneto, ATCL/Spazio Rossellini
With the support of the Fondazione Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza / Danza in Rete, Incubatore per futur_ coreograf_ CIMD 22/24
Artistic residency: DAS - Apparecchi Arti Sperimentali, Fondazione Armunia, Fondazione Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza, Live Arts Cultures
Production residency: Carrozzerie N.o.t., Ferrara Off Teatro
Thanks to Balletto di Roma
SYNOPSIS
On stage, a body immersed in a constant flow of information.
On stage, a radical exposure to hyperstimulus.
On stage, and in reality, a social performer X.
On stage, a human being, captured in the act of living in the present.
On stage, a great effort.
GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort) is an infinite scrolling acted upon and endured by a human being who is inevitably a performer. It is the constant flow of countless pieces of information on a single body. It is a battlefield between the visceral and the virtual, between the materiality of flesh and the weightless fluidity of data. It is the unexpected emergence of the human component, of the "non-performative," which reveals itself by mistake in the interstices of the choreographic device.
GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort) is a performative investigation that answers the question: what happens if the entire flow of information we experience daily is poured, relentlessly, onto a single body? What if a single individual were to embrace and embody the standards dictated by the constant interconnection and over-performativity of the present?
The choreographic materials flow incessantly and are selected live from an archive built on the concept of "trend" or—more generally—"catchphrase": viral dances, "ballets" that have exploded on social media, short iconic fragments of choreography that have become symbols of a shared visual culture and the history of dance. The incessant layering of such content generates an unstable and moving body-catalogue, a surface that shakes and is shaken, absorbing and reflecting the dynamics of contemporary performance.
GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort) is the second chapter of the GOOD VIBES ONLY trilogy, a networked project born from the desire to explore, through the body, the phenomenon of scrolling. A single, repetitive, obsessive gesture that twenty-first-century humans perform automatically hundreds of times a day. An action that, in its simplicity and limited physical scope, opens a chasm of existential, political, sociological, and ethical questions about the contemporary world.
On stage, a body immersed in a constant flow of information.
On stage, a radical exposure to hyperstimulus.
On stage, and in reality, a social performer X.
On stage, a human being, captured in the act of living in the present.
On stage, a great effort.
GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort) is an infinite scrolling acted upon and endured by a human being who is inevitably a performer. It is the constant flow of countless pieces of information on a single body. It is a battlefield between the visceral and the virtual, between the materiality of flesh and the weightless fluidity of data. It is the unexpected emergence of the human component, of the "non-performative," which reveals itself by mistake in the interstices of the choreographic device.
GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort) is a performative investigation that answers the question: what happens if the entire flow of information we experience daily is poured, relentlessly, onto a single body? What if a single individual were to embrace and embody the standards dictated by the constant interconnection and over-performativity of the present?
The choreographic materials flow incessantly and are selected live from an archive built on the concept of "trend" or—more generally—"catchphrase": viral dances, "ballets" that have exploded on social media, short iconic fragments of choreography that have become symbols of a shared visual culture and the history of dance. The incessant layering of such content generates an unstable and moving body-catalogue, a surface that shakes and is shaken, absorbing and reflecting the dynamics of contemporary performance.
GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort) is the second chapter of the GOOD VIBES ONLY trilogy, a networked project born from the desire to explore, through the body, the phenomenon of scrolling. A single, repetitive, obsessive gesture that twenty-first-century humans perform automatically hundreds of times a day. An action that, in its simplicity and limited physical scope, opens a chasm of existential, political, sociological, and ethical questions about the contemporary world.
BIOGRAPHY
Francesca Santamaria is an artist active in the Performing Arts.
Her research focuses on contemporary performance logics and, through the body in motion and its limits, reflects on the concept of performance. In 2022, she participated in the Incubatore per futur_ coreograf_ CIMD program, and in 2024, she made her debut as an author with COME SOPRAVVIVERE IN CASO DI DANNI PERMANENTI (HOW TO SURVIVE IN CASE OF PERMANENT DAMAGE). She subsequently created GOOD VIBES ONLY (beta test), the winning work of Danza Urbana XL 2025. Her works have been presented at numerous national and international festivals and events, including Vetrina della giovane danza d’autore, B.Motion - Operaestate, Romaeuropa, Bolzano Danza, Contemporanea, MILANoLTRE, and Danza in Rete. She is currently working on the GOOD VIBES ONLY trilogy, particularly the second chapter, GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort).
Francesca Santamaria is an artist active in the Performing Arts.
Her research focuses on contemporary performance logics and, through the body in motion and its limits, reflects on the concept of performance. In 2022, she participated in the Incubatore per futur_ coreograf_ CIMD program, and in 2024, she made her debut as an author with COME SOPRAVVIVERE IN CASO DI DANNI PERMANENTI (HOW TO SURVIVE IN CASE OF PERMANENT DAMAGE). She subsequently created GOOD VIBES ONLY (beta test), the winning work of Danza Urbana XL 2025. Her works have been presented at numerous national and international festivals and events, including Vetrina della giovane danza d’autore, B.Motion - Operaestate, Romaeuropa, Bolzano Danza, Contemporanea, MILANoLTRE, and Danza in Rete. She is currently working on the GOOD VIBES ONLY trilogy, particularly the second chapter, GOOD VIBES ONLY (the great effort).
Photo by Michela Grandolfo
