Martina Parenti

I was born in Lugano on June 21, 2001, on the day of the summer solstice. A bright day, and yet I have always lived a little in the shadows, between two poles: Gemini and Cancer, Switzerland and Italy, body and word. Always in balance, never with a precise definition.

As a child, letters were mountains to me, books labyrinths: I am dyslexic, and words have always been a struggle. I am not flexible, I am not strong, and I have never been good at “doing like the others.” But I had a body, and that body spoke. Grimaces, dance steps, even the dripping of a faucet could turn into rhythm. My mother played me videotapes of Michael Jackson, my father the sketches of Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo: that’s where I realized that dancing and making people laugh could be a universal language. After a forced chapter with classical ballet, at ten years old I found refuge in street dance: hip-hop, popping, locking. With different crews I traveled across Italy through competitions and stages, learning that a single step can say more than a thousand sentences and that the strength of the group supports even the weakest bodies.

In middle school I began with musicals (Romeo and Juliet, Fame), then came cinema, with small roles as an actress and dancer in short films, movies, and music videos. During my years at the “Giuditta Pasta” choreutic high school in Como, I encountered contemporary dance: finally, a home. There I began creating choreographies, such as in the Como d’autore project, a traveling performance through the historic sites of the city.

After graduating, I continued to nurture dance, theater, and cinema, but also games and workshops with children, where I rediscovered that laughing together is as much an art as stepping onto a stage.

Words, even today, are not enough for me. That’s where my dance begins.